Gem Scores 2016’s First Blockchain Investment

The year 2016 has already brought out a major investment for the blockchain industry.

Gem, a blockchain platform provider, announced yesterday (Jan. 6) that is secured a $7.1 million Series A funding round, which was led by Pelion Venture Partners and participated in by KEC Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group and RRE Ventures, among others.

“We believe blockchain technology will transform how people and companies interact,” said Micah Winkelspecht, CEO and founder of Gem. “It will underpin entire industries and, one day, produce a blockchain economy that will form the underlying architecture of our daily lives.”

In the past few years, the investment community has warmed up to the blockchain and bitcoin ecosystems, which, according to a report by Magister Advisors, has received $1 billion in funding since 2013. Projections for the next couple years call for that number to increase by another $1 billion in 2017. But for 2016, Gem marks the first of its kind to make such a funding announcement.

“We have been monitoring the blockchain industry looking for a company that could bridge the divide between enabling developers and their projects, while also advancing blockchain use cases in larger enterprises. After spending time with [the] Gem team and their customers, we became convinced they have the foresight, traction and leadership necessary to connect the enterprise with the efficiencies and benefits of blockchains,” said Ben Dahl, a partner at Pelion Venture Partners.

Gem is based in Venice, California, and works with companies to harness blockchain technology with a scalable, modular and custom-built platform. It uses blockchain technology to power smart networks that connect industries.

“I’m really excited about blockchain ledger systems, and Gem is a great example of a company that’s fully leveraging the potential of that technology to transform the services industry,” said Jeff Parkinson, partner of KEC Ventures.