IBM, Comcast Ventures, Boldstart Ventures and Galvanize are backing a startup accelerator aimed at scaling early stage blockchain startups that sell to the enterprise.
Called MState, the blockchain growth lab will focus on investing in the most promising blockchain companies globally and help them scale successfully with Fortune 500 customers.
"In 2018, we will see a growing number of enterprise blockchain use cases go mainstream from healthcare applications to government, supply chain and retail to the real estate and transportation industries. But for most of these use cases to succeed, blockchain start-ups need to be able to engage well with enterprise customers. Our growth lab is going to help make that happen,” said MState Co-Founder and CEO Rob Bailey.
According to the official release, MState has already made its first investment in Blockdaemon, a blockchain deployment platform that provides easy, one-click deployment, management and supervision of nodes to all major protocols, including Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum Enterprise and R3. In addition, it has built a network of 30 advisors which include five founders who have successfully built billion-dollar tech companies, as well as a team of 25 CMOs, COOs and CROs.
MState said it will run a six-month program at Galvanize offices in New York and San Francisco that will focus on helping technical founders with all aspects of their go-to-market strategy. A core focus will be helping startups engage successfully with prospective enterprise customers and partners.
The application process is now open and five best companies will be selected for inclusion in the program. The names will be announced on February 1st, 2018.
