Participated · Series A · Oct 2022

SettleMint offers a low-code platform that reduces blockchain development complexity and lets teams create decentralized applications in weeks rather than months. The product is chain-agnostic and supports both permissioned and permissionless networks. Customers include a university in Indonesia (blockchain voting), the state of Jharkhand in India (seed supply-chain tracking) and banks using the platform to tokenize securities. Headquartered in Belgium, the company also has teams in the UAE, Singapore and India. SettleMint says it has been operating for about six years and describes itself as capital efficient; it had raised €7.6 million prior to its latest round. The team is roughly 55 people and plans to add about 60 hires. With the new capital the company aims to deepen its presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific and to test the U.S. market, while collaborating with Fujitsu to enter Japan. SettleMint offers a scalable low-code, infrastructure-agnostic blockchain middleware that lets enterprise developers quickly create and deploy blockchain-based applications. Its platform (including SettleMint APIs / CertiMint) aims to remove vendor lock-in and abstract away blockchain complexity for developers and decision-makers. The solution is designed to be highly accessible to developers and supports rapid commercial deployment. SettleMint reports use across more than 30 public- and private-sector use cases, several of which have exited the lab. The company has partnered with KPN for distribution and API-store integration. The latest financing will support international expansion and commercialisation efforts across Europe, MEA, and APAC. The round increases the company’s total funding to €5.5 million. SettleMint develops middleware and applications that leverage distributed ledger technology for fintech use cases. The company released SettleMint Ballot Box, an application demonstrating secure and immutable recording of votes on the bitcoin blockchain. It is also advancing work on property titling technology and procedures to simplify KYC compliance. SettleMint will represent t0.com as that firm seeks to expand its European presence. The company attracted investment interest from Medici Ventures, which cited SettleMint’s early blockchain voting work and broader product progress. No revenue or user metrics are disclosed in the article.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2022

Zigazoo operates a kid-safe social app that lets users make and share video responses to challenges from vetted children’s brands and talent. The company has integrated NFTs into the app, enabling users to buy, sell, trade, and include token art in profiles and videos; its NFT drops have sold out. Zigazoo’s NFTs are built on the Flow blockchain and the app has partnered on drops with Moonbug Entertainment, Invisible Universe’s Qai Qai, and digital artist Nyla Hayes. The company plans to expand Web3 offerings by running additional NFT drops, increasing in-app token utility (richer trading options and a new fan club experience), and building a creator studio and user-driven NFT marketplace. Zigazoo says it will use new capital to grow toward becoming the leading social network for kids to interact directly with creators and brands in kids’ media. The company is Miami-based and announced a $17M Series A to support these plans; the post-money valuation was not disclosed.

Led · Equity · Oct 2020

Bitt, founded in 2013 and based in Barbados, develops financial software and a mobile application platform using blockchain and distributed ledger technology to enable secure peer-to-peer transactions. The company focuses on infrastructure to support a digital financial ecosystem across the Caribbean and to promote financial inclusion and economic growth. Bitt has been active in central bank digital currency work, signing a March 2019 contract with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank to pilot a digital Eastern Caribbean (EC) dollar for use across ECCU member countries. The company aims to reduce physical cash usage and improve merchant-consumer transactions via smartphone apps. Leadership includes Brian Popelka, who will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer. The additional capital from its investor is intended to help Bitt pursue market opportunities that accelerate digital currency adoption in developing countries and continue product innovation. Bitt.com is a Barbados-based financial technology company founded in 2015 by CEO Rawdon Adams. It uses blockchain and distributed ledger technology to build a secure, streamlined, peer-to-peer payments ecosystem and digital wallets across the Caribbean region. Bitt has launched a digital wallet in Barbados and signed a memorandum of understanding with Montserrat to launch a national digital payments platform. Its current financial update includes an additional $3M investment from Medici Ventures, which exercised an option to purchase more ownership interest. That exercise increased Medici Ventures’ ownership of Bitt’s Class A and B common shares by 8.6%. Medici Ventures is a wholly owned subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc. Bitt is a Caribbean fintech focused on enabling digital national currencies and frictionless mobile cash across island nations. Its core product is digitizing fiat currencies on the bitcoin blockchain; in February 2016 it launched a digitized Barbadian Dollar backed by the Central Bank of Barbados. The company intends to digitize all fiat currencies in the Caribbean and create a regional ecosystem to ease exchange, settlement, and cross‑island trading. Bitt aims to reduce high frictional fees from banks and money services, enable small businesses to offer online payments, and let citizens send or receive money via their phones in seconds. Overstock.com announced an initial $4 million strategic investment in Bitt to support these efforts, announced at a media conference in Barbados. Bitt is a Barbados-based digital asset exchange, remittance channel, and merchant-processing gateway. It leverages AlphaPoint’s technology designed by veteran Wall Street traders. The platform facilitates international Bitcoin trading in 11 major fiat currencies, including the US Dollar (USD), Great Britain Pound (GBP), Canadian Dollar (CAD), Euro (EUR) and Barbadian Dollar (BBD). Founded in 2013 by Gabriel Abed and Oliver Gale, Bitt focuses on cross-border payments and merchant acceptance. The company secured $1.5M in seed funding from Avatar Capital and plans to use the funds to continue to develop and expand its core services.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2020

GrainChain develops end-to-end technology solutions that connect producers, storage operators, buyers, and financiers, bringing transparency and efficiency to agricultural commodity markets. Its suite includes Trumodity for producer-buyer transactions, SiloSys for inventory management in grain elevators, Seed Audit for seed traceability and quality verification, and HarvX for logistics management from farm to storage. By leveraging blockchain, smart contracts, and IoT devices, the company aims to reduce friction and risk in commodity trading while providing real-time data integrity. GrainChain plans to scale its technology footprint and broaden global market reach, with an emphasis on enhancing embedded financial services for agricultural stakeholders. The firm previously raised $29 million in 2023 to accelerate expansion across the United States and Latin America. The new capital further bolsters its balance sheet, bringing additional resources to support product development and international growth.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2019

PeerNova, Inc. is a San Jose, Calif.-based enterprise software company founded in 2013 that provides the Cuneiform Platform to financial institutions. The Cuneiform Platform perpetually synchronizes data across multiple internal and external systems to guarantee data and process integrity. This perpetual synchronization simplifies reconciliation, automates exception processing, and provides end-to-end operational visibility across workflows in real time. The company is led by President and CEO Gangesh Ganesan and has sales offices in New York and London. PeerNova raised $31M in growth funding, bringing total fundraising to $74M. It will use the financing to increase market penetration and extend the functionality and use cases of its Cuneiform Platform. PeerNova is a San Jose, California-based developer of distributed trust systems built on blockchain technologies. Led by President and CEO Dr. Naveed Sherwani, the company focuses on enterprise products for data security and financial applications. PeerNova intends to use the proceeds to accelerate development of two core enterprise products and to build product and business development teams. The company completed the second tranche of its Series A financing with online retailer Overstock.com investing in the round. It had announced an $8.6M first tranche in December 2014 and has raised $19M in equity and debt financing to date. The article does not disclose the size of the second tranche or other participating investors. PeerNova develops distributed trust systems using Blockchain technologies and is led by CEO Dr. Naveed Sherwani. The company is building a SaaS platform and intends to launch multiple applications in 2015. It is working on two application categories: registry applications for decentralized storage of records or assets of value, and transmit/exchange applications to enable secure movement of digital assets. The platform is intended to handle digital assets such as currency, loyalty programs, coupons, medical records, and DNA. PeerNova is based in San Jose, California. The company plans to use recent funding to invest in R&D and to grow sales, marketing, and support to expand service delivery capabilities. PeerNova develops distributed financial applications and transaction processing technology. Led by CEO Dr. Naveed Sherwani, the company also offers advanced bitcoin mining hardware and cloud services. It is advancing peer-to-peer applications and secure platforms for the digital currency and e-commerce markets. The company raised a Pre‑Series A investment of undisclosed size from Pierre Lamond. PeerNova says it will use the funds to validate its vision and product roadmap. It plans to bring blockchain-based applications to both consumer and enterprise markets.