Egyptian Blockchain Startup Elkrem Scores USD 75 K From US-Based Accelerator
In a move that is expected to bolster its plans of launching its product globally, Egyptian blockchain startup, Elkrem, has secured investment of USD 75 K from San Francisco’s ConsenSys’ Tachyon Blockchain accelerator.
The accelerator program kicked off on September 7th and the hardware blockchain startup has scored the investment as part of the perks that come with participating in the program. Having secured the funding, Elkrem will now be looking to globally launch its first product; The Blockchain Development Board, in 2019, via Kickstarter.
The latest round of investment for the startup is coming after a previous seed round worth USD 250 K that was closed back in January and led by Endure Capital. Other names like 500 Falcons, Flat6Labs, Karim Hussein, Con O’Donnell, as well as Khaled Alashmouny, were amongst other individuals and organizations who also weighed-in in the mentioned round.
As is often the case with many other active hardware blockchain startups, Elkrem is no stranger to the world of international accelerators and investors as it has held its own in a number of global competitions. To its credit, the startup is known to have won first place at EthDenver Hackathon; a competition that featured up to 130 teams selected from various parts of the globe.
The startup’s product; The Blockchain Development Board, is believed to have been motivated by the dearth of platforms that have the capacity to ease the integration of hardware and decentralized technologies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, IPFS, and the likes. And this is coming on the backs of considerable experience the company has garnered in the hardware makers market over the course of the last five years.
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By virtue of its design, the product is expected to support the integration of decentralized apps (Dapps) with hardware prototypes in a manner that is a lot less complicated, thus, eliminating the need for any form of intensive hardware development know-how. It is also built to assist hardware developers and electrical engineers who have only rudimentary knowledge of how the blockchain works in the area of linking up the blockchain to their hardware projects.
Taking a cue from “Merkle Tree”; a cryptography algorithm of which the blockchain technologies are built on, the startup whose name is the reverse form of the former is the brainchild of Co-Founders Amr Saleh and Islam Mustafa. Both individuals are believed to have started out as enthusiasts of blockchain technology back in 2012. After nearly five years of experimenting with the blockchain and other decentralized technologies, they appear to be making significant headway in their pursuits; a feat that has culminated in the creation of Elkrem and the imminent launch of its first product known as The Blockchain Development Board.
This development was first reported by StartupSceneME
Feature Image: Amr Saleh via LinkedIn
