Equity crowdfunding startup Fundopolis has partnered with AlphaPoint, a blockchain technology provider, to integrate blockchain into its platform, the companies said on Wednesday at Consensus, a leading annual blockchain and crypto conference which took place this week in New York.
The Fundopolis equity crowdfunding platform, which has yet
to launch, will allow companies to raise funding directly from the public.
Business owners will get to choose the terms for the investments they issue and
pay investors back with money, a stake in the business, or both.
Equity crowdfunding refers to the online offering of private
company securities to a group of people for investment. In the US, equity
crowdfunding began booming in 2012 with the launch of some of today’s top
platforms, including Wefunder and SeedInvest.
According
to equity crowdfunding platform StartEngine, US companies raised a whopping
US$8.9 million in the first month of 2019 through equity crowdfunding
platforms. Wefunder and StartEngine raised US$3.2 million and US$2.8 million
respectively, representing 33.3% and 29.1% of market shares.
The collaboration with AlphaPoint will see Fundopolis leverage
AlphaPoint’s cloud-based platform to power the issuance of equity crowdfunding perks,
allowing customers who are raising funds on the portal to easily interact with
their investors, and provide automation for key security behaviors and other
back end functions.
In addition to security and fraud prevention, Fundopolis
said blockchain will provide greater transparency to investors and companies
alike, enabling them to gain access to timely, accurate information such as when
and how investors will receive their perks or pay-out following a completed
fundraising.
“Fraud and security issues have plagued the crowdfunding
space for many years and small businesses simply cannot afford to lose out on
the critical funding they’ve raised,” said Igor Telyatnikov, CEO, AlphaPoint.
“By building Fundopolis’ portal on AlphaPoint’s powerful blockchain technology, this new crowdfunding approach will provide investors and companies alike the peace of mind that investments are secure, transparent and verifiable.”
Founded in 2013, AlphaPoint is a rapidly growing fintech
company specialized in blockchain technology solutions. The company offers several
products including the AlphaPoint Digital Asset Exchange Software, a full-stack
software for digital asset and cryptocurrency exchange operators used by more
than 100 companies; the AlphaPoint Asset Digitalization Software, a
blockchain-based asset digitalization technology that allows clients to
digitize assets, creating tokens for virtually any asset class, including
currencies and securities; and the AlphaPoint eOTC Trading Platform, an
institutional-grade platform for institutional clients supporting large block
trades on hundreds of crypto-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat pairs.