Score another one for Comcast’s “Blockchain Crew.”
The blockchain-tech-focused team operating inside Comcast Ventures announced that it’s leading a $3.275 million funding round for Blockdaemon. Comcast Ventures Managing Director Gil Beyda will also join the startup’s board of directors.
“The global blockchain market is expected to grow significantly over the next few years as wide-ranging industries begin to understand the potential,” Beyda said, in a statement. “We are excited to support Blockdaemon as it simplifies the adoption of this versatile technology while empowering developers to create real value.”
Blockdaemon is a blockchain platform that provides deployment, connection and management of network notes.
“Currently, the process for launching new blockchain projects is expensive and complicated,” added Konstantin Richter, CEO and Founder of Blockdaemon, also speaking in the press release. “Thousands of companies and corporations around the world want to get started in blockchain but don’t know how. With the Blockdaemon platform, companies can now launch new permission blockchain projects in minutes instead of months. Offering public node deployment tools ensures we give back to the community we came from crypto-enthusiasts.”
RELATED: Comcast Ventures forms ‘Blockchain Crew’ to execute aggressive investment strategy
As Fierce reported a few weeks ago, Comcast Ventures is aggressively seeking investments into blockchain technology, forming a five-member team it calls “The Blockchain Crew” to spearhead the strategy.
Beyda leads a team that includes Head of Funds Amy Banse, Managing Director Sam Landman, Principal Teddy Himler and Morgan Polotan—who also works with Beyda at Genacast.
According to CoinDesk, the team meets “multiple times a week” to discuss blockchain trends and investment opportunities. The underpinning goal is to learn about how the encryption technology can help Comcast in product development, and not as much about looking for stellar growth opportunities.
In January, Comcast Ventures joined IBM in backing accelerator mState, which invests in blockchain startups. The cable company VC arm also has made a recent investment in Blockchange Ventures, another blockchain fund.
"Our mandate is first and foremost to find great investments," Beyda told CoinDesk. "So, we're a financially driven fund, a returns-driven fund."
Blockchain is, of course, the hottest buzzword in technology right now. And rather and try to hazard a definition, we’ll just say it's a way to protect and anonymize data within transactions by removing centralized control. The technology is used in cryptocurrency and applications like advanced advertising.
As for the Blockdaemon funding round, other participating investors include Boldstart Ventures, MState, Plug & Play, Liquid 2 Ventures. Angel investors Meagan Jones, Sam Lessin and Jeff Fagnan are also listed.