Shell-backed Applied Blockchain raises $2.5M in fresh funding

Layer 1s • April 22, 2020, 8:55AM EDT

Applied Blockchain, a London-based enterprise blockchain solutions firm, has raised £2 million (~$2.5 million) in new funding.

The round was led by Hong Kong-based venture capital firm QBN Capital. With the fresh capital in place, Applied Blockchain looks to continue developing its privacy-focused platform to help companies improve the way they handle data.

“Governments, corporates, and individuals are increasingly concerned about data privacy and data security. We believe zero-knowledge proofs [ZKPs] offer a new and better way to share and handle data,” said Philea Chim, senior vice president at QBN Capital.

Chim added that Applied Blockchain is expected to release an “abundance of applications” for ZKP “in the near future.”

Applied Blockchain said it has already started testing the platform with its clients across industries, such as energy, shipping, aviation, automotive, telecoms and financial services. Adi Ben-Ari, founder and CEO Applied Blockchain, said the firm would expand into Asia with the help of QBN Capital.

Founded in 2015, Applied Blockchain said it has developed over 70 distributed solutions to date for both startups and corporates.

Applied Blockchain is backed by oil giant Shell and venture capital firm Calibrate, having raised an undisclosed amount from them in 2017. At the time, Shell also chose Applied Blockchain to build and deploy an energy derivative trading platform.

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