What a fantastic few days at Web Summit Lisbon 2018!
AllianceBlock was selected among the top 160 startups to pitch at the ALPHA PITCH competition, in front of a panel of VC jury members, global media and tech savvy attendants. We are also proud to be selected as one of the top 6 fintech startups at the Accenture Fintech side event!
The team, represented by our co-founder Rachid Ajaja, was invited to an exclusive breakfast with billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper — supporter of blockchain, inventor of viral marketing and early investor in Skype, Baidu and Tesla — and Ledger’s president Pascal Gauthier.
They discussed the disruptive potential blockchain will have on financial markets, but also the challenges it faces in terms of scalability. Mr Draper also talked about regulations and how various governments will compete to attract and encourage blockchain companies to settle in their countries. Mr Gauthier then highlighted that, despite the recent boom in ICOs, the blockchain technology is still in its infancy and much has yet to be achieved to render it mainstream.
Our cofounders, Matthijs De Vries and Amber Ghaddar were invited to a one on one side event with Prince Constantijn Van Oranje of the Netherlands. Prince Constantijn is StartupDelta special envoy since July 2016. He is appointed by the Dutch Government to make The Netherlands the European epicenter of innovation, with the best climate for entrepreneurs to start, build, grow and internationalize their businesses. Matthijs and Amber discussed AllianceBlock’s vision on how participative finance can increase the success rate of startups which stands at a meagre 50% and especially blockchain startups which stand at a skimpy 33%.
Among other events, Amber attended the Women In Tech dinner. Women In Tech is an international non-profit organization dedicated to closing the gender gap in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) sector. Amber met other like-minded women and entrepreneurs and discussed how to bridge the gender the gap in Tech and Finance. She also attended a VIP dinner organized by BlockTelegraph where she had the opportunity to network with top blockchain and cryptocurrencies speakers.
The Web Summit was a great opportunity for AllianceBlock to network with top notch VC‘s’ and tech entrepreneurs. The team described how the AllianceBlock ecosystem aims to revolutionize the rules of financing. AllianceBlock is building the foundation of a real participative economy where we leverage the knowledge and experience of the community to help corporates achieve the most efficient financing and help participants achieve the highest probable returns.
We will soon be making some great announcements! So keep an eye open!
Amber, Rachid and Matthijs
