Edinburgh blockchain innovator secures £2 million including Martin Gilbert backing

Blockchain Technology Partners (BTP) was founded in 2018 with the mission to bring the benefits of distributed ledger technology to business. Picture: AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

The seed round has been led by Force Over Mass, a London-based venture capital firm, and Signature Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund based in Munich and Berlin, with participation from angel investors including early backers Gilbert and Laing.

BTP, founded in 2018, provides technology to simplify the deployment and ongoing management of blockchain networks.

Last May, Paul Forrest was named as the firm’s inaugural non-executive chairman. He boasts more than 25 years’ experience as a strategy consultant, advising governments and working with multi-national blue-chips including the Ford Motor Company, Wal-Mart, Virgin Galactic and AkzoNobel.

Forrest also participated in BTP’s angel funding round which was led by Aberdeen Asset Management co-founder Gilbert and former deputy Laing.

Laing is now an active early stage investor while Gilbert – latterly the joint chief executive of Standard Life Aberdeen – joined expanding fintech Revolut as group chairman last January.

Duncan Johnston-Watt, chief executive and co-founder of BTP, said: “We are delighted to welcome Force Over Mass and Signature Ventures as investors.

“Force Over Mass’ focus on B2B [business-to-business] software and Signature Ventures’ vision of a decentralised future are complementary and mesh perfectly with our own mission to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology by enterprises across the board.”

Wouter Volckaert, partner at Force Over Mass, said: “We are always on the lookout for deep tech companies with the potential to make a massive impact. By facilitating the development of blockchain-based applications, BTP’s transformational platform removes a major barrier for businesses looking to adopt enterprise blockchain technology.

“We have been extremely impressed by BTP’s founding team, and we are confident they will continue to lead the sector for years to come.”

Juliane Hahn, founding partner at Signature Ventures, added: “We believe that blockchain marks the next step in the evolution of digital transformation towards a more decentralised internet architecture.”

Last February, BTP announced that is was partnering with the Israeli stock exchange to support the creation of a “cutting-edge” lending platform. The deal with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange represented the first major enterprise client for the capital start-up.

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