Rad announces new funding from Ayre Group; plans to build cross-blockchain NFT management platform on the BSV Blockchain

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on March 21, 2022.

Rad, the innovative content distribution and NFT streaming platform, has secured significant funding in a round led by Ayre Group; Intersect VC, who are investors in Dapper Labs and Triller; former New England Patriot Super Bowl Champion and Pro Bowler Richard Seymour’s 93 Ventures; Alvin Kwan, former head of Corporate Development at Fox and Board Member at Fubo TV; Rusty Matveev, who is CSO at Calaxy and formerly a partner at MSG Ventures; Revere VC; and Jason Campbell, former quarterback for the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders.

Rad recently launched NFTV, redefining video streaming by combining major content creators and studios with future foundational technologies like web3, blockchain, and virtual and augmented reality (XR). It’s the first network to make NFTs accessible via a rapidly expanding network of over 500m devices worldwide – including Sony PlayStations 4 & 5, Android TVs and Apple platforms. Rad currently offers an unprecedented range of Gen Z-focused entertainment spanning gaming, music, on-demand video, live events, and sports. Rad has done content deals with the likes of Disney, NBCUniversal, Fox, Showtime, Warner Brothers, Sony, Complex Magazine, Whistle Sports, Cinedigm, Esports TV, Anthem Sports & Entertainment, and hundreds of others, and is trusted by the biggest content and hardware companies in the world.

Rad’s streaming platform is powered by Ara, which is a P2P ecosystem for content creators that uses an Ethereum-based token (ARA) for governance, incentives, and staking with royalties for NFTs sold through their platform. The platform is built to incorporate numerous chains and will make discoverability of content and NFTs across chains more efficient and approachable to creators and consumers alike. Rad’s integration of the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain will include support for BSV-based NFTs with on-chain storage of large NFT files including full-length movies, video holograms and AR/VR content. Rad will also leverage the BSV blockchain’s low-cost and high-scaling capacity for managing and tracking NFTs across multiple chains.

Ayre Group joins existing investors The Tornante Company which is Michael Eisner’s fund, Sony Innovation Fund, A+E Networks, WWE, Warner Music Group, and Disney via the Disney Accelerator.

Commenting on the funding round, Rad CEO Tony Mugavero said:

“Rad couldn’t be more excited to partner with Ayre Group and support the BSV ecosystem. Consumers buying, and creators making movies, XR, and clips leveraging blockchain-based technologies need low cost and high throughput transactions that compliment high performance streaming,” said Tony Mugavero, CEO of Rad. “Blockchain technology should be largely transparent to consumers and creators, and they’ll always go for the most cost-effective and performant option, which the BSV blockchain solves for.”

Rad CMO Brooklyn Earick added:

“We are pumped to offer our users a fast and inexpensive option to scale at enterprise levels on Rad. We foresee a future where creators can tokenize everything, digital and IRL, to fund content creation, art collections and more. BSV will allow our users to both think long-term and execute quickly without the worry of what gas fees might be that day.”

Ayre Group founder Calvin Ayre commented on his group’s $1.5m investment in Rad, saying:

“BSV is the perfect home for future-focused companies like Rad that have outgrown the constraints imposed by other public blockchains. I’m thrilled to partner with Rad as they push the boundaries of what a streaming platform has to offer and meet the public’s insatiable demand for an ever-widening variety of digital entertainment options.” 

Rad previously secured investment from a number of prominent entities, including A&E Ventures, Sony Corporation of America, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., Warner Music Inc., and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Rad’s media partners include Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS and Warner Music. 

About Rad

Rad is redefining streaming for the modern era with NFTs, on-demand, live events, and TV featuring the biggest content creators and studios in the world; all powered by future foundational technologies like blockchain and XR. Discover the best in Music, Movies & TV, Comedy, Sports, Gaming and more! Rad supports on demand, live, holograms, 180°, 360°, 3D content and NFT collectibles (non-fungible tokens). Watch thousands of hours of content, join watch parties, buy limited edition NFTs, get XR experiences, and collect crypto rewards.

Discover more at rad.live and download our iOS app, Android TV app, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, or PSVR apps. 

About Ayre Group 

Ayre Group, founded by celebrated entrepreneur and philanthropist Calvin Ayre, provides capital to scalable, high-growth businesses within the BSV blockchain ecosystem, the only infinitely scaling enterprise public blockchain. The Group targets investment in innovative ideas and ambitious projects that are ‘positively disruptive’, supporting their expansion with the Group’s extensive network and industry partners.

Blockchain-as-a-service provider mintBlue, closes substantial seed round financing of EURO 2M

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on March 10, 2022.

Blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform provider mintBlue has secured €2 million in a round led by Two Hop Ventures, with additional support from a Dutch angel investor and Ayre Group.

mintBlue is the go-to platform for developers to build with blockchain. mintBlue offers a proprietary API that allows companies large and small to migrate data to the public blockchain, thereby increasing data security, interoperability and traceability. As the leading blockchain development suite that provides data storage directly on the blockchain, mintBlue aims to become the ‘decentralized AWS.’

mintBlue’s solutions are non-custodial; this means that end users control their data and have no lock-in issues. The software supports a commercial level scale that allows for monetisation opportunities down to a thousandth of a cent.

mintBlue’s software allows a growing list of companies to focus on their core operations without the need to devote time and resources to understanding complex blockchain infrastructure. Learn more about mintBlue’s product offering – including NFT invoicing, data integrity and document verification – at mintblue.com.

mintBlue was recently selected by VISMA | yuki, a leading European cloud accounting solutions provider, to integrate blockchain-based functionalities into its bookkeeping. mintBlue has already handled over 700,000 NFT invoices for VISMA | yuki at an extremely low cost per invoice, improving efficiency while eliminating vectors for financial malpractice.

The Dutch angel investor backing mintBlue commented:

Blockchain technology is fascinating, and the mintBlue team has managed to develop one of the world’s first real-world use-cases for a public blockchain with VISMA, with more to come.

Commenting on the investment round, mintBlue CEO Niels van den Bergh said:

With this investment, mintBlue will start its trajectory to become the de-facto blockchain infrastructure provider for web3. Platforms will lose market share over protocols, and we will be there to support that change.

Two Hop Ventures general partner Alex Fauvel said:

mintBlue is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced teams in the blockchain industry, and Two Hop Ventures is proud to support them in their first funding round. With large partners and customers experimenting with putting and managing data on-chain, it is only a matter of time until traditional and modern enterprises are using mintBlue for all their blockchain integrations.

Ayre Group founder Calvin Ayre added:

“BitcoinSV (BSV) is the only public enterprise blockchain to offer unbounded scaling, and mintBlue exemplifies BSV’s unique capacity to handle large transaction volumes at a minimal cost. I look at mintBlue as Europe’s answer to Alchemy, the U.S. blockchain developer platform that recently raised $200m at a $10b valuation. As word spreads of mintBlue’s capacity to boost business via the BSV blockchain, I see mintBlue mirroring Alchemy’s meteoric rise.”

ABOUT MINTBLUE

mintBlue makes blockchain development easy. Users can focus on their solution instead of the complex underlying blockchain infrastructure. We offer data solutions to store, share and monetise data without giving up ownership.

mintBlue is Europe’s first public blockchain platform used at scale.

mintBlue PR Kit link

ABOUT TWO HOP VENTURES

Two Hop Ventures is a venture capital fund focused exclusively on start-ups building infrastructure for the next generation of the Internet. The infrastructure behind this leap forward allows data and other assets to be held by the users, not Facebook, Google etc., via the combination of the blockchain and Internet. Two Hop believes that the Bitcoin SV Blockchain is the only viable solution.

The fund has a traditional structure, is registered at the AFM in The Netherlands and operates under the EU AIFMD light regime. It holds no BSV or other crypto and is strictly equity and debt only. Investments are made exclusively in early-stage start-ups building on the Bitcoin SV blockchain and are without geographic limitation. The manager seeks to maximize investor returns by creating a balanced portfolio across the core infrastructure sectors of this flourishing ecosystem.

ABOUT AYRE GROUP

Ayre Group, founded by celebrated entrepreneur and philanthropist Calvin Ayre, provides capital to scalable, high-growth businesses within the BSV blockchain ecosystem, the only infinitely scaling enterprise public blockchain. The Group targets investment in innovative ideas and ambitious projects that are ‘positively disruptive’, supporting their expansion with the Group’s extensive network and industry partners.

Ayre Group completes follow-on investment in Mijem Inc.

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on January 13, 2022.

First Marketplace with ‘Get Bitcoin SV-Back’ Loyalty System – Users Benefit from New Crypto Wallet Functionality and BSV Loyalty Program

TORONTO, Canada – Mijem Inc., the Canada-based social marketplace and technology company, closed a follow-on investment in its RTO concurrent financing with noted technology entrepreneur Calvin Ayre, founder of venture capital firm Ayre Group. Mijem Inc., having recently amalgamated into Mijem Newcomm Tech Inc., is currently trading on the CSE under ticker MJEM.

Mijem Newcomm Tech Inc. is the developer of the popular Mijem social marketplace, an intuitive online platform and application ecosystem that connects students with their peers to efficiently buy, sell and trade goods and services. Mijem social marketplaces center around Gen Z communities, including post-secondary institutions, in the United States and Canada. To date, Mijem has established relationships with more than 70 university and college communities, including those at the University of Texas, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, the University of Michigan and the University of Miami.

Commenting on the investment, Ayre Group founder Calvin Ayre, said, “Mijem’s integrated Bitcoin SV (BSV) loyalty system is a key development for its users because Bitcoin SV is an everyday digital currency with important advantages with regard to scalability, speed, eco-friendly footprint, and low costs. We see a great opportunity to continue working with their team to further develop the Mijem offering with Bitcoin SV and play a part in their ongoing success story.”

Mijem founder Phuong Dinh said, “Bitcoin SV is what the original Bitcoin white paper envisioned, namely, a fast, inexpensive, peer-to-peer electronic cash system – and all these characteristics are important for Mijem’s Gen Z target market. Mijem is connecting communities, building trust, and providing features like links to digital asset wallets and BSV rewards that Gen Z demands. On behalf of Mijem, I’d like to thank Ayre Group for their investment and continued support.”

About Bitcoin SV

The Bitcoin SV network is an enterprise-grade public blockchain that benefits from its ability to scale unbounded, offering greater data capacity and functionality, in addition to super low transaction fees (median transaction fees on the BSV network for payments have ranged from 1/25 to 1/100 of a U.S. cent), enabling it to serve as a powerful global data ledger for business, as well as a fast and efficient peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

About Mijem Inc.

Mijem is a Canadian-based social media and technology company that provides innovative solutions to create a vibrant social marketplace for Generation Z to connect and to efficiently buy, sell and trade goods and services. Mijem’s patent-pending flagship technology currently permits thousands of university and college students across the United States and Canada to both connect online and engage in consumer-to-consumer commerce.

About Ayre Group

Ayre Group, founded by celebrated entrepreneur and philanthropist Calvin Ayre, provides capital to scalable, high-growth businesses within the BSV blockchain ecosystem. Ayre Group targets investment in innovative ideas and ambitious projects that are ‘positively disruptive’, supporting their expansion with the Group’s extensive network and industry partners.

BuzzCast Secures $4.35M Seed Round to Integrate NFTs into Premium Virtual Events

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on October 7, 2021.

Round led by blockchain visionary Ayre Group with participation from TheSyndicate.com

Los Angeles, CA – October 7, 2021 – BuzzCast, the premium virtual events platform, today announced that it has closed a $4.35 million seed round that it will use to integrate NFTs into premium virtual events. The round was led by Ayre Group with participation from The Syndicate, a group of 9,000+ accredited investors led by Jason Calacanis.

BuzzCast recently emerged from stealth mode as an established player in the high-end of the virtual and hybrid event landscape. The platform is unique in that it delivers a broadcast-quality experience, can scale to support hundreds of thousands of attendees with zero down-time, and supports complex tracks and formats with advanced networking features. BuzzCast clients include global brands and organizations, including Anthem, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The World Trade and Tourism Council, Just for Laughs, and Uber.

“We are producing high-profile conferences and industry events where the interactions between attendees can change the world or move markets,” said Ryan Byrne, co-founder and CEO of BuzzCast. “Our vision is to make ticketing and transactions highly secure and non-fungible, so there is a clear record of all of the people who attended and the digital interactions that took place at a BuzzCast event. The BSV enterprise blockchain is known for its safety and security, low transaction costs and ability to scale, which make it a natural choice for what we want to build as the next generation of our platform.”

BuzzCast will also allow event hosts and sponsors to gamify the attendee experience in both virtual and hybrid events, enabling them to drive behavior, reward visitors with prizes and incentives, and extend their interaction with guests before, during and after the event, all built on BSV. The low transaction price and large block size will enable us to turn content, rewards and contact information into micro-NFTs that visitors can collect and trade at will.

Ayre Group founder Calvin Ayre said, “BuzzCast has uncovered an exciting market opportunity that has the potential to transform how virtual and hybrid events are produced, setting a new quality standard for sponsors and attendees. BuzzCast embodies the possibilities that BSV’s infinite scaling capacity offers to forward-looking enterprises.”

Said Jason Calacanis, of The Syndicate, “We’re excited with BuzzCast’s early progress and excited to see where this funding takes them.”

To learn more about BuzzCast, attend (in person or virtually) the CoinGeek New York conference, the year’s biggest BSV blockchain event (October 5-7, 2021), at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. BuzzCast CEO Ryan Byrne will participate in the A Better Internet Experience using Blockchain panel on Thursday, October 7. 

About BuzzCast

BuzzCast is the premium virtual events platform, powering the world’s most buzzworthy events. Trusted by global brands including Anthem, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The World Trade and Tourism Council and Uber, BuzzCast delivers a broadcast-quality experience with zero downtime – 100% of the time. BuzzCast features advanced networking capabilities and supports complex ticketing access, tracks and formats, making it an ideal platform for global summits, investor conferences and high-profile industry events. 

BuzzCast recently won a Gold Stevie Award® for Start-up of the Year 2021 in the 18th Annual International Business Awards®. The award recognizes best-in-class virtual events that were held in 2020 when the event industry was forced to rapidly innovate in response to the global pandemic. For more information, visit BuzzCast.com or read BuzzCast’s five-star customer reviews on G2.

About BSV

The BSV network is an enterprise-grade public blockchain that benefits from its ability to scale unbounded, offering greater data capacity and functionality, in addition to super-low transaction fees (the median transaction fee on the BSV network in 2020 was less than 1/100 of a U.S. cent), enabling it to serve as a powerful global data ledger for business, as well as a fast and efficient peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

About Ayre Group

Ayre Group, founded by celebrated entrepreneur and philanthropist Calvin Ayre, provides capital to scalable, high-growth businesses within the BSV blockchain ecosystem, the only infinitely scaling enterprise public blockchain. The Group targets investment in innovative ideas and ambitious projects that are ‘positively disruptive’, supporting their expansion with the Group’s extensive network and industry partners.