Global Brain backs $30m investment in Singapore's Electrify

Other investors included Wendell Davis, a co-founder of cryptocurrency Ethereum, and Jun Hasegawa, CEO of Omise, a Thai financial technology company that raised $25 million via token sale last year. The capital will be used for staff recruitment and product development as well as an expansion across Southeast Asia, Japan and Australia.

Electrify said it rejected the majority of the token sale offers in order to buck a “money grabbing” trend in the emerging funding model. Token sales, also known as initial coin offerings or ICOs, have aroused suspicion for raising extremely large rounds for unproven companies in short time frames. The Electrify capital raise was said to be achieved in less than 10 days.

Founded in March last year, Electrify operates a blockchain-enabled platform that lets customers purchase electricity for their homes on a peer-to-peer basis. The business model aims to empower small-scale producers, such as people with rooftop solar units, to create a more decentralized power distribution ecosystem that delivers saving to individual consumers.

“Built on the tenets of blockchain, our solution will drive down operating costs, ensure the transparency of contracts, and also speed up and streamline contract validation and auditing,” Martin Lim, COO and co-founder of Electrify, said in a statement. “As retailers become more efficient, we foresee this translating into greater cost savings and convenience for consumers across the Asia Pacific market.”

The company claims that its platform has transacted more than 30 gigawatt-hours of electricity worth S$5 million ($3.8 million) for commercial and industrial customers to date. It plans to accelerate growth by using Ethereum-related infrastructure and leveraging services supplied by Omise-developed technology. Starting with Singapore in the second half of 2018, Electrify will host retail electricity smart contracts, allowing consumers to browse and purchase electricity from a variety of energy providers.

Blockchain was initially developed as a virtual currency enabler but has been increasingly integrated into other industries and business models. Blockchain-based tokens have been attractive to investors because they present business exposure rights that are able to grow in value if operational success prompts increased investor demand. The Electrify investment extends a spike in token sale activity and coincides with increasing regulatory pressure across Asia.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Financials
• Support services
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Singapore
• Global Brain Corporation
• energy