Published by Gbaf News
Posted on May 10, 2018
UK-based DREAM.ac, today announced it has been selected by Asia’s most successful accelerator Chinaccelerator to participate in its highly selective and intense three-month startup acceleration programme. The firm has also received seed funding from alt investment VC funds SOSV and Artesian Venture Partners.
DREAM.ac is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur, Richard Foster and seeks to address the urgent global need for qualified blockchain teams by helping to source the talent required to deliver on the $12bn blockchain initiatives raised in 2017/2018 so far.
Speaking from Chinaccelerator in Shanghai, Foster, CEO of DREAM explained: “We launched the first iteration of our online platform in 2016 and it has already matched a deep pool of highly-vetted, experienced blockchain experts with thousands of innovative organisations worldwide.”
But over time he saw that more than 40% of the firms using the site were trying to build teams, “Which is not easy when you aren’t too sure of the scope, you don’t know any of the individuals concerned or how they will come together,” continued Foster. “Latest stats suggest around 92%of blockchain projects fail and the lack of plugged in and clued up resource has to be a big factor in that.”
With the backing of the VCs and the Accelerator DREAM is set to apply its experience and use AI to iteratively learn from past project outcomes. In this way DREAM will be able to pre-qualify and recommend quality decentralized teams, from coder to marketer, that really can deliver more than the sum of their parts.
Chinaccelerator is highly respected in the blockchain community and was the launchpad for Bitcoin unicorn BitMex.
General Partner of SOSV and Managing Director of Chinaccelerator, William Bao Bean said: “Across our portfolio we see increasing demand for talent for blockchain projects that have raised significant amounts of money, however they are struggling to pull together teams who can actually deliver the product. We believe DREAM has the potential to become the first port of call for every blockchain build.”
In addition to attracting the above support DREAM has also signed up some exceptionally high calibre advisors. Not least leading Ethereum Developer and author or ERC20, Fabian Vogelsteller, and Daniel Shapiro, PHD and Machine learning Expert.
“DREAM is more than a ledger,” said Shapiro. “It connects people with projects in a way that feels intuitive. The machine learning techniques we designed for team assembly in DREAM are state of the art. The problem with traditional assignment algorithms is the set up with the wrong objectives, injecting bias towards pushing transactions. DREAM is different, our goal is to build the best teams including AI-based agents.”
Initially DREAM will focus on the enormous potential within the blockchain market, but longer term plans are to rollout across the full range of technologies.
Foster concluded: “We believe DREAM supplies the missing-link in the blockchain ecosystem. Our service will put together remote teams based on skills, fit and reputation to ensure projects have the best chance of succeeding from the very start.”
SOSV has a portfolio of 700 companies with USD$300m under management and is the number four global investor in blockchain as reported by Crunchbase news. Artesian Venture Partners is an Australian venture capital firm with USD$255M under management across three funds.
UK-based DREAM.ac, today announced it has been selected by Asia’s most successful accelerator Chinaccelerator to participate in its highly selective and intense three-month startup acceleration programme. The firm has also received seed funding from alt investment VC funds SOSV and Artesian Venture Partners.
DREAM.ac is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur, Richard Foster and seeks to address the urgent global need for qualified blockchain teams by helping to source the talent required to deliver on the $12bn blockchain initiatives raised in 2017/2018 so far.
Speaking from Chinaccelerator in Shanghai, Foster, CEO of DREAM explained: “We launched the first iteration of our online platform in 2016 and it has already matched a deep pool of highly-vetted, experienced blockchain experts with thousands of innovative organisations worldwide.”
But over time he saw that more than 40% of the firms using the site were trying to build teams, “Which is not easy when you aren’t too sure of the scope, you don’t know any of the individuals concerned or how they will come together,” continued Foster. “Latest stats suggest around 92%of blockchain projects fail and the lack of plugged in and clued up resource has to be a big factor in that.”
With the backing of the VCs and the Accelerator DREAM is set to apply its experience and use AI to iteratively learn from past project outcomes. In this way DREAM will be able to pre-qualify and recommend quality decentralized teams, from coder to marketer, that really can deliver more than the sum of their parts.
Chinaccelerator is highly respected in the blockchain community and was the launchpad for Bitcoin unicorn BitMex.
General Partner of SOSV and Managing Director of Chinaccelerator, William Bao Bean said: “Across our portfolio we see increasing demand for talent for blockchain projects that have raised significant amounts of money, however they are struggling to pull together teams who can actually deliver the product. We believe DREAM has the potential to become the first port of call for every blockchain build.”
In addition to attracting the above support DREAM has also signed up some exceptionally high calibre advisors. Not least leading Ethereum Developer and author or ERC20, Fabian Vogelsteller, and Daniel Shapiro, PHD and Machine learning Expert.
“DREAM is more than a ledger,” said Shapiro. “It connects people with projects in a way that feels intuitive. The machine learning techniques we designed for team assembly in DREAM are state of the art. The problem with traditional assignment algorithms is the set up with the wrong objectives, injecting bias towards pushing transactions. DREAM is different, our goal is to build the best teams including AI-based agents.”
Initially DREAM will focus on the enormous potential within the blockchain market, but longer term plans are to rollout across the full range of technologies.
Foster concluded: “We believe DREAM supplies the missing-link in the blockchain ecosystem. Our service will put together remote teams based on skills, fit and reputation to ensure projects have the best chance of succeeding from the very start.”
SOSV has a portfolio of 700 companies with USD$300m under management and is the number four global investor in blockchain as reported by Crunchbase news. Artesian Venture Partners is an Australian venture capital firm with USD$255M under management across three funds.
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