AlphaNetworks has closed a $10 million funding round to help get its blockchain-based entertainment platform off the ground by the second quarter of 2019.
The initial funding round was led by Alphabit Digital Currency Fund and joined by Shuttle Fund of Korea, Smart Contract of Japan and other crypto investors. AlphaNetworks made the announcement during the closing keynote panel of the IBC Show in Amsterdam.
AlphaNetworks found and CEO Seth Shapiro has some experience to draw on as he pursues this new venture. He previously served as head of production at DirecTV Advanced Services and helped launched more than 25 services, including NFL Sunday Ticket Interactive and TiVo by DirecTV.
At AlphaNetworks, he’ll work on combining subscription video on demand, targeted advertising and pay-per-view business models along with “complete pricing freedom for creators and media companies.” The platform will use artificial intelligence for audience analytics, blockchain-based transparency and monetization via a viewership-based algorithm.
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AlphaNetworks’ Proof of Engagement (PoE) algorithm tracks interactions between consumers, advertisers and content, in an effort to improve curation for viewers, compensation for creators and targeting of advertising.
“It's fashionable to talk about how much the media business is being disrupted—as if this was something new. The truth is the media business has always been disrupted by new technology— from broadcast to cable, and cable to broadband," said Shapiro in a statement. “The next era of media will be defined by forces like blockchain and distributed ledger technology, AI and cognitive science, which will unleash unprecedented opportunities for creators, consumers, and advertisers. We’re proud to be a part of this next wave.”
In addition to Shapiro, AlphaNetworks has a roster of advisors including Liam Robertson (Alphabit Fund), David Moss (TrueBlock, Block.One), John Maatta (The CW Television Network, Warner Bros. Entertainment), Jack Giarraputo (Happy Madison Productions) and Jay Samit (Deloitte, EMI, Sony, SeaChange).