Blockchain, the technology that underpins the bitcoin digital currency, is said to have the potential to revolutionize the world economy.
Blockchains are a new way to store information in a distributed and decentralized manner, bringing a number of benefits: stronger security as the ledger is shared by thousands of computers, transparency as all transactions are publicly recorded and decreased risk.
The noise surrounding blockchain has been tremendous with traders, banks, governments and more all looking into how the tech can benefit them and investing huge amounts of money in dedicated consortia, tech labs and startups.
According to data provided by CoinDesk, over US$1.3 billion has been invested in bitcoin and blockchain ventures since 2012.
In the first nine months of 2016 alone, blockchain startups raised US$429 million across 92 deals, says CB Insights.
But who exactly are betting on the technology? Today, we take a look at the some bitcoin and blockchain investors and VCs in Europe.
Coinsilium
Coinsilium is a blockchain technology investment and development company based in London. Coinsilium is publicly listed on London’s Nex Exchange Growth Market under ticker symbol COIN.
It operates an accelerator program for startups and invests in promising blockchain ventures. Coinsilium’s portfolio includes SatoshiPay, a bitcoin nanopayment solution, Helperbit, a peer-to-peer payment platform for humanitarian aid, and RSK Labs, the developer of Rootstock an open-source smart contract platform.
Santander InnoVentures
Santander InnoVentures is the venture capital arm of the Santander Group. Based in London, the fund was launched in July 2014 with an initial capital of US$100 million. It invests in fintech companies and is part of the bank’s boarder innovation agenda.
Santander InnoVentures has invested in Ripple, the company behind the popular blockchain-based payment network, Elliptic, a blockchain intelligence startup, and Digital Asset, a software company developing distributed ledger technology solutions for the financial services industry.
Earlybird Venture Capital
Earlybird Venture Capital is a European venture investment firm based in Berlin, Germany with offices in Munich and Istanbul. Founded in 1997, Earlybird Venture Capital is one of the largest venture and growth capital investors in Europe.
It invests in European companies with global ambitions, providing capital across all stages, from a few hundred thousand up to €15 million.
Earlybird Venture Capital has invested in BigchainDB, a scalable blockchain database, and Ascribe, a digital content record platform.
Mosaic Ventures
Mosaic Ventures
is a venture capital firm based in London focused on Series A. The firm was launched in 2014 with an initial US$140 million fund to support founding teams that are reshaping big markets.
Mosaic Ventures has invested in Luxembourg-based bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain, as well as blockchain tech developers Blockstream and MultiChain.
Point Nine Capital
Point Nine Capital is a Berlin-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments related to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and digital marketplaces. It invests between a few hundred thousand dollars up to about a million.
The fund and its managers have backed a number of successful Internet companies including Delivery Hero, Shiftplanning, Vend and Zendesk.
In the blockchain and bitcoin space, Point Nine Capital has backed compliance startup Chainalysis, as well as bitcoin peer-to-peer lending startup Bitbond.
