Six technology startups have been selected to participate in the next EY Startup Challenge, focusing on building blockchain solutions for digital rights management and energy trading.
During the six week programme, which begins on 12 September, the startups will move into an innovation hub in the office space of a technology accelerator in Canary Wharf, London. They will have access to a selection of mentors from EY and EY’s clients, a series of educational workshops, and regular contact with market leading businesses. The programme ends with a showcase day on 20 October where the startups will demonstrate the solutions they have built.
The shortlisted startups are:
- Adjoint – www.adjoint.io – Adjoint is building a new messaging and consensus protocol that allows enterprises to quickly deploy, maintain, and analyse a global network of smart contracts on top of a mathematically verified, cryptoledger fabric.
- BitFury – www.bitfury.com – The Bitfury Group develops and delivers software and hardware solutions for businesses, governments, organisations and individuals who want to securely move an asset across the Blockchain.
- BlockVerify – www.blockverify.io – BlockVerify technology provides a distributed ledger solution for companies to prove exactly where their products are in the supply chain at any given time. It also allows businesses as well as end consumers to trace the source, establish authenticity and prove ownership of their purchases.
- BTL Group LTD (TSXV:BTL) – www.btl.co – BTL offers blockchain solutions to businesses across a number of industries, and has recently built a prototype that uses a blockchain based interbank payment network built on their core settlement and asset trading solution, Interbit.
- JAAK – www.jaak.io – JAAK is a Smart Content platform for digital media. Their protocol acts as an ‘operating system’ for defining, managing and commercialising media and metadata on the blockchain.
- Tallysticks – www.tallysticks.io – Tallysticks leverages the functionality of blockchain technology to deliver efficiencies across financial workflows. They deliver all automation by integrating into various ERP and accounting systems and connecting them with financial ecosystems as well as by plugging into electronic payment rails.
Jamie Qiu, Founder and Lead of the EY Startup Challenge, EY said:
“We are hugely excited to explore together with these six startup businesses how blockchain can be used to transform digital rights management and energy trading. These two key areas are ripe for change and we believe blockchain has the potential to bring about notable enhancements in productivity and transparency. We think that the prospective impact of this technology outside of the financial services sector is enormous, and we look forward to exploring this collaboratively.”
Rahul Gautam, Partner and Head of TMT Advisory Services, EY UK and Ireland added:
“Blockchain represents a unique opportunity for media companies to accelerate their growth ambitions by simplifying the secure production, management, and distribution of content to audiences around the world. The EY Startup Challenge will fuse the best thinking from the Blockchain startup community with EY’s people and clients to produce functioning solutions that demonstrate the art of the possible.”
All of the solutions and prototypes that are built during the six weeks of the Challenge will have the opportunity, if selected, to be further developed to a pilot state with EY providing ongoing, hands-on support and longer-term access to EY’s network, resources and expertise.
Please visit www.ey.com/startupchallenge for more information.
