Introducing EthVC: Bridging the gap between blockchain startups and investors
If you haven’t heard of EthVC yet- take a moment to read the below (~5 min) and feel free to reach out directly to me (@ambresoub / hello@kaiko.com) if you want more info.
The Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) is the largest annual European Ethereum event focused on technology and community, spread over three intense days of conferences, networking and learning, with 2,000+ attendees and 250+ confirmed speakers.
Sharing and transmitting knowledge is the most efficient way to develop a positive and fertile ecosystem, and the EthCC talks cover a wide range of subjects, addressing different levels of comprehension of blockchain technology (full agenda here).
I have been attending and sponsoring EthCC each year, both for personal interest and for Kaiko- we’ve hired, met partners, sourced customers and investors at all previous editions of the event.
A few months ago, I suggested to the organisers that for the 2020 edition, they launch a “VC Track” in order to enable better access and communication between tech VCs and blockchain startups.
I truly believe that EthCC is one of the best content-driven events with a focus on blockchain because it doesn’t suffer from the gloss/hype of devcon, and it has zero commercial bs. It is organised by and for the community (at cost, by a non-profit). Attendees, speakers and organisers alike focus on actionable content and creating synergies between people and companies in the ecosystem.
I was fundraising for Kaiko’s Seed Round last year and I had to overcome the lack of access and communication spanning from both sides. Indeed, tech founders don’t always understand the “VC model”, and investors are not always comfortable with the nitty gritty of blockchain tech. This is understandable given the noise and presence of scammy projects at the outset of the blockchain hype, which was detrimental to the good folks out there keeping their head down and building awesome companies.
The goal here is to help blockchain startups fundraise, and to support investors ready to deploy capital in the space. So, Kaiko, with the support of Blockchain Valley Ventures, is co-organising “EthVC”, the VC track of EthCC, taking place the 3rd, 4th and 5th of March at La Maison de la Mutualité in Paris.
Out of the 250+ speakers confirmed for EthCC, 57 are currently fundraising, and have applied to the VC track.
We are currently filtering these down to the 30 best projects, to ensure investors that all pitches will be presented by startups whose technical expertise and relevance to the space will have been pre-screened and validated.
A detailed program with founder bios, company stage, amount raised, executive summary etc. will be shared with all participating VCs.
The VC track will take place over the three days of the conference with the following high level agenda:
We are delighted to present the first batch of confirmed VCs, which include Anthemis, IdInvest, Kima Ventures, BPI France, NewFund, BlackFin, Blockwall Capital, Xange, Semantic Ventures, Blockchain Valley Ventures, Whitestar, and more tbc soon.
Reach out directly to hello@kaiko.com if you are an investor and would like to participate!
See you in Paris @ EthVC! :-)
Ambre
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More detailed info here from the organisers of EthCC: https://medium.com/@jdetychey/ethvc-at-ethcc-where-to-invest-next-c73872ec7f81
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About Kaiko
Founded in 2014, Kaiko is a market data provider in the blockchain-based digital assets space, providing institutional investors and market participants with enterprise-grade data infrastructure. We collect, normalize, store, and distribute digital assets market data via a livestream WebSocket, REST API, and cloud-based CSV Data Feed, to which clients connect to build data-driven applications. Our raw trade data, order books, and aggregates cover 10,000+ currency pairs across 70+ exchanges, with new markets added every day. With over five years of historical data, Kaiko provides the most extensive digital asset datasets in the industry. Kaiko caters for the market data needs of professional investors, academic researchers, regulators, security issuers, third-party platforms and exchanges.
