The blockchain system is continuously expanding with the sprouting of new startups and new collaborations taking place frequently. The data, however, is scattered all over the internet.

Addressing this problem, Outlier Ventures launched open Blockchain Corporate Tracker last month which provides a comprehensive view of blockchain-based corporates.

Jamie Burke, CEO Outlier Ventures & Outlier Capital LLP, made the announcement in an online post. The Blockchain Corporate Tracker is a companion to Blockchain Startup Tracker that the company launched in May and has over 1150 blockchain projects listed.

“The Startup Tracker captures the bottom-up innovation from startups; while the Corporate Tracker tracks top-down innovation from corporates. Together, the two trackers provide a comprehensive live overview of the blockchain ecosystem”, Burke said.

The Corporate Tracker currently lists 234 corporates, at press time. It provides information about a company’s membership in a consortium (R3, B3i, Hyperledger and other), the sector it is engaged in, in addition to acquisition, proof-of-concept, patents, investment, accelerator and much more.

“At Outlier Ventures we are building a unique Web 3.0 Venture Platform that brings together startups, investors, academia but also importantly corporates to help establish and grow a healthy and thriving blockchain ecosystem. As such we have deep relationships with companies like EY, Cisco, Intel where we connect them with blockchain startups as well as in some cases venture with them ourselves”, he said. “Together the Blockchain Corporate Tracker and the Blockchain Startup Tracker will capture the development of the blockchain ecosystem from today’s sustaining innovations through to tomorrow’s disruptive innovations.”

Burke goes on to make some interesting predictions for the blockchain ecosystem. He says that as corporates acquire the necessary experience to build the technology, they will start quitting the consortiums. In addition, he expects to see more industry and region specific consortia.

“The Chinese government will play an increasingly active role in the space, guiding development and providing industry-specific government-approved blockchains for corporates and startups to build on. Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent will take a leading role in the industry, potentially allowing these giants to finally expand Westwards into new markets”, Burke said. 

In the next 12 months, he expects to see real-world blockchain products launched and commercialised, most likely in emerging markets with lower regulatory burdens. He adds that in the next 2-3 years, protocol startups that reach scale like Credits, BigChainDB, Chain, Monax, or Guardtime are likely to be acquired by the large IT vendors like Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Google to bolster their own blockchain-as-a-service solutions and teams.

“The Big 4 will move away from implementation towards partnering with IT vendors to be able to offer BaaS solutions to their clients. This relationship role is valuable for startups to acquire corporate customers and grow, and for corporate clients to have access to blockchain talent and solutions. We would expect more legal services firms to follow the EY strategy and become more active in 2017 building up blockchain for LawTech and RegTech”, Burke said.