Enterprise blockchain-as-a-service provider BlockApps announced in a press release that it has raised Pre-Series-A Venture Funding and will expand into China.
The move is to enable Chinese companies to create Ethereum blockchain-based solutions in collaboration with Alibaba Cloud Computing and Microsoft Azure China operated by 21Vianet, Tencent, and WanCloud.
BlockApps has created a development platform that allows companies to build their own customised private blockchain applications on top of the Ethereum network. Using BlockApps, companies can make use of the blockchain by formulating smart contracts relevant to their business operations. Smart contracts are computer protocols that create irrefutable enforceable contracts in digital form.
According to BlockApps CEO, Victor Wong, “demand for BlockApps from enterprises around the world has grown exceptionally fast from the US to Europe, South America, the Middle East and now by working with the leading Chinese cloud providers, BlockApps will help them and their enterprise clients facilitate efficient blockchain deployments.”
Through the collaboration with Alibaba Cloud Computing, Microsoft Azure China, Tencent, and WanCloud, Ethereum blockchain enterprise solutions will be available to Chinese companies before year-end.
BlockApps has already been working successfully with Microsoft Azure in the United States and wants to address global demand for its services by expanding into the Chinese market, according to its press release.
Microsoft welcomed the expansion of its partnership with BlockApps in China and is excited that it was chosen as a partner for BlockApps’ expansion into the Chinese market, according to Microsoft’s Principal Project Manager Marley Gray.
Alibaba’s Gary Liu believes that there is strong demand for Ethereum-based blockchain applications and that Chinese companies will be able to reduce costs, improve tranparency and optimise their workflows using Ethereum-based smart contracts.
The Pre-Series-A Venture Funding round was led by Fenbushi Capital and included Black Pine Capital, Jen Advisors, the Novogratz Family Office, Radiant Venture Capital, and Ventris Capital.
Fenbushi Capital Managing Director, Bo Shen, states that BlockApps has already started working with two Chinese companies, an insurance company, and a smart city initiative, and believes that “BlockApps is the most scalable and modular enterprise blockchain solution available today,” and that it will be “the infrastructural blockchain database of companies in the future.”