The new funding will help Everledger to continue improving transparency, sustainability and traceability across global supply chains. Leanne Kemp, founder and CEO of Everledger, also pointed out the importance of Tencent’s participation, outlining the potential synergies of the partnership with the company.
British blockchain-enabled supply chain firm Everledger has raised $20 million in a new funding round participated by Chinese Internet giant Tencent.
Following the investment, Tencent will now be represented in the Everledger board, the company said in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Sept. 24.
“Everledger and Tencent are a natural fit”, Kemp stated, explaining that the firms share strategic including several solutions that are part of their ecosystem, while the company also plans to extend its developments in China.
“Everledger and Tencent are a natural fit”
Specifically, Everledger is planning to launch a unique program for blockchain-powered diamond tracking apparently based on Tencent’s WeChat. Kemp stated:
“As an example, we will launch the world’s first WeChat Mini Program for blockchain-enabled diamonds, uniting key stakeholders in the diamond value chain, which aims to empower WeChat users to buy jewelry with more transparency and security.”
Other investors
The new Series A funding round included major global investors such as Japan’s retail giant Rakuten, American investment management firm Fidelity, Bloomberg’s venture fund Bloomberg Beta, as well as Singapore-based Vickers Venture Partners and Graphene Ventures, the press release notes.
Founded in 2015, Everledger is a leading global disruptor of blockchain-enabled management and tracking of supply chains as the company pioneered blockchain technology for tracking diamonds in May 2018.
Everledger’s product is based on Hyperledger Fabric, while the IBM Blockchain Platform provides an additional layer of security on the platform.
On Sept. 23, Tencent’s largest shareholder Naspers participated in a $15 million investment in blockchain game developer Immutable, which created popular blockchain game Gods Unchained.
Tencent to Lead Drafting of International Blockchain-Based Invoice Standards
WeChat parent company and Chinese internet giant Tencent has received the green light to draft blockchain-based invoice standards from China’s tax officials.
As reported by Global Times, Tencent’s blockchain invoice project was backed by multiple countries including the U.K., Switzerland, Sweden and Brazil, as well as China’s State Administration of Taxation, at the ITU-T international meeting on e-voice standards Tuesday.
Originally an anti-tax fraud initiative in Shenzhen, the company’s work on using blockchain tech to provide transparency in business reporting was announced last year.
For the standards effort, Tencent is joined by The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and the Shenzhen Taxation Bureau for the initial drafts, which Tencent and the related firms claim to be a step forward in realized blockchain business applications.
Blockchain-based invoices aggregate and distribute information for commercial transactions typically between permissioned parties.
Li Ming, director of blockchain research at the China Electronics Standardization Institute, told Global Times that the the move to develop standards demonstrates the importance of business applications for blockchain technology:
“E-invoicing is an appropriate field for blockchain application investigations and trials currently, which could in turn promote tech development.”
The standards drafting announcement comes hot on the heels of a flurry of blockchain-related news out of China.
The nation’s president, Xi Jinping, told Communist Party constituents last week that the government will begin a top-down approach on blockchain implementation, with the aim being to adopt the tech across a wide range of use cases. While, on Monday, a Chinese central bank official asked commercial banks to investigate blockchain adoption for digital finance applications.
In a more curious use case for the tech, the country’s Communist Party has just announced a decentralized app (dapp) that will allow members to pledge their loyalty for all to see.
