The French multinational energy firm ENGIE has partnered with IT consultant Maltem to create a start-up, Blockchain Studio.
Because they saw many blockchain tests languish at the Proof of Concept stage, the two firms formed Blockchain Studio to help support the new technology’s adoption in businesses.
Their pitch is making blockchain easy to use and run; and their targets are the firms incorporating blockchain into their business practices. So far, the start-up has two main products: Dojo and Rockside.
Dojo trains firms on using blockchain by providing Ethereum use case template. Hence it helps them build a proof of concept, which they can then test on Ethereum.
However, Rockside is about helping firms deploy, run and monitor their blockchain and nodes. With this, firms can also oversee smart contracts, transactions, tokens, and access. Rockside faces competition from several Blockchain as a Service providers such as Kaleido and Microsoft Azure’s Blockchain Workbench.
Blockchain Studio is not sitting still geographically either. It plans to open a Singapore office and develop its activities in Southern Europe by the end of the first half of 2019.
ENGIE’s Executive Vice-President and Chief Digital Officer, Yves Le Gélard is excited by blockchain and Blockchain Studio’s prospects: “We are very pleased to be contributing to this development, which should allow Blockchain technology to be made accessible to many actors. It is an excellent example of an innovative tool contributing to ENGIE’s digital transformation.”
Jean-Luc Clamen and Pascal Mennesson, partners at the Maltem Consulting Group are equally enthusiastic: “To spread, an innovation as radical as Blockchain technology needs the power of large groups to be combined with the agility of start-ups. This is the purpose of Blockchain Studio, a joint-venture between ENGIE and our agency dedicated to innovation, Futurs.io.”
Blockchain Studio received €1.9m in seed funding and currently has ten employees.
