China's Huiyin Group Launches $20 Million Bitcoin Fund

Corin Faife (@corintxt) | Published on December 1, 2016 at 13:10 GMT

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Huiyin Group, a multibillion-dollar investment company based in China, has announced the launch of Huiyin Blockchain Ventures (HBV), a subsidiary fund focused solely on investments in the sector.

Launching with $20m in committed capital, HBV will now seek to invest the funds over the course of the next six to 12 months. The fund will be managed by James Wo, the son of Huiyin Group founder, and focus on improving the blockchain ecosystem through investments in infrastructural projects and new use cases.

But while the firm may have "blockchain" in its name, those close to the fund suggested the firm is unlikely to invest in enterprise or so-called alternative blockchain projects.

Wo indicated that the fund will have a special focus on projects building on or otherwise supporting the bitcoin blockchain.

Wo said in a statement:

"We are seeking to invest into bitcoin-related companies to help enrich the industry, as we see a large opportunity for a return on our investment. As the bitcoin industry continually matures, the use of bitcoin will continue to grow and proliferate in China, as well as the rest of the world. HBV intends to be at the forefront of this technology as it continues to gain traction globally."

The firm has already started investing through their fund, backing Indian bitcoin brokerage Unocoin, content monetization platform Yours and Purse.io, a bitcoin-powered e-commerce marketplace.

Purse CEO Andrew Lee will also serve as an advisor to the fund.

Family business

For Huiyin Group, HBV's parent fund, the announcement follows its more recent move into the technology sector. (Huiyin Group is a family-owned investment group that has focused on traditional industries like real estate, energy and agriculture).

But in the past few years, Wo and his father have taken a personal interest in bitcoin, which ultimately led to the creation of the new fund.

Speaking about the family, Lee said:

"Out of all the investors I've spoken to [in China], they have a deeper commitment to bitcoin than anyone else, and probably the best economic and political ties to the Chinese economic machine to really further the bitcoin ecosystem."

Lee also hinted at much larger investment announcements in the bitcoin ecosystem to be revealed in the coming months.

China money image via Shutterstock

CoinDesk: Peernova Quietly Collects $4 Million for Big Data Blockchain Play

Peernova Quietly Collects $4 Million for Big Data Blockchain Play

Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on November 16, 2016 at 15:00 GMT

FEATURE

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While some startups bask in blockchain hype, others are making a name by bucking the trend with an under-the-radar approach.

One startup that falls into the latter category is San Jose-based Peernova, a one-time bitcoin mining firm that now uses blockchains to solve enterprise big data problems. Long out of the spotlight, this could soon change as Peernova has raised $4m as part of an ongoing Series B, one that could prime it to become a bigger market player in 2017.

The funding, from Zhejiang Zhongnan Holdings Group, adds to the $13.6m it raised amid a shift to enterprise blockchain services in late 2014 and early 2015, and gives the China-based construction firm a 5% stake in its business.

But even with the new funding, CEO Naveed Sherwani and CTO Gangesh Ganesan said that Peernova won't opt to be more public about its work, choosing instead to eschew the idea that its use of blockchain even makes it a "blockchain startup" in the typical sense.

Sherwani told CoinDesk:

"We've been studying the financial services industry for three years and we think we're one of the few companies that have really spent time studying. You don't see us doing press releases or doing keynote speeches."

This research-first approach, Sherwani said, means that while most of its peers have focused on maximizing partnerships in certain topic areas (like clearing and settlement), it believes it has emphasized lesser-discussed workflow and reporting inefficiencies.