Today, enterprise blockchain startup Blockchain Technology Partners (BTP) announced that it raised £2 million ($2.8m) in a seed round backed by the UK’s Force Over Mass and Germany’s Signature Ventures.
BTP is best known for its work supporting the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to launch its blockchain securities lending platform. The French startup Liquidshare, which is backed by Euronext and Societe Generale, is also using BTP’s Sextant for DAML to deploy the smart contract language on its blockchain platform.
Sextant is BTP’s primary offering to make it easier for enterprises to deploy blockchain solutions. Most corporates are interested in the application, but to deploy a blockchain offering usually involves getting your hands dirty with blockchain infrastructure, creating a hurdle. That’s what Sextant aims to address. It started off supporting Hyperledger Sawtooth, which is a relatively niche blockchain, and more recently added Hyperledger Besu, a popular business-friendly Ethereum client that can work with both public and private Ethereum.
Sextant has also integrated cross platform smart contract language DAML for some blockchain flavors.
Wouter Volckaert, Partner at Force Over Mass, said, “By facilitating the development of blockchain-based applications, BTP’s transformational platform removes a major barrier for businesses looking to adopt enterprise blockchain technology. We have been extremely impressed by BTP’s founding team, and we are confident they will continue to lead the sector for years to come.”
Force Over Mass also invested in Adhara, another enterprise blockchain startup, co-leading its Series A in May.
Signature Ventures has a portfolio of blockchain startups, with a focus on companies dealing with crypto-assets, including custodian Finoa.
BTP is up against some stiff competition. Perhaps the biggest is Kaleido which, like BTP, aims to make it easier and faster to deploy enterprise blockchain solutions. It too supports Hyperledger Besu and was incubated by ConsenSys, the Ethereum solutions company that open-sourced Besu and now owns the Quorum brand. A big plus for BTP is there should be plenty of work to go round.
