Why Blockchain is an opportunity for startups?

Before discussing about how Blockchain can really help the startups I would like to discuss a little about what is Blockchain and how is it different from the current technology. In an easy language Blockchain is a chain of blocks which contains information and the reason why it is different because the whole data is not placed on a centralized database rather the data is distributed among the different blocks and the blocks are connected to each other with the help of an address called hash of the block and that’s how they make a chain of blocks.
Most of the people understand that the Blockchain is used only for the crypto currencies like Bitcoin. But actually, it’s not true. Blockchain has the power to change the world in the next 20 years in the same way internet has changed it in the last 20 years. So today I am going to discuss some of the major use cases of Blockchain technology and also how this technology is a big opportunity for startups.
First of all, I would like to discuss some of the major problems which most of the startups faces initially and how Blockchain can help to solve these problems.

Fundraising: You need a lot of money to make your startup successful in the beginning unless you are so lucky and a lot of cash flows directly from sales. You will need money to hire new staff and opening new offices.
Blockchain can help to get money for startups directly from investors without including any third party in the middle like seed invest and many more. Blockchain will also help to remove the lack of transparency and can help fundraisers in tracking funds from source to destination. So, in that way Blockchain can help both the investor and a startup to build a great transparency and trust between them.

Middleman: Startups often depends upon the middleman to increase their sales or to reach to the right customer. Sometimes they depend upon the big e-commerce companies like Amazon etc.
Blockchain can help startups to cut out the need of a middleman for sales or to reach new customers and can reach directly to their customers. They don’t need to share their profits with big e commerce companies, and it can surely help startups to grow faster if the product is really good.

Cross Border Sales: In the current financial system it’s not easy for a startup to make cross border sales as bank charges a heavy cross border transaction fees and also it takes days to process a cross border transaction.
Cross Border transactions have become very easy with the help of Blockchain. Now you can send money to any part of the world in the real time with almost no transaction fee. Sending or receiving money on Blockchain is exactly like sending emails over the internet. You can send it to anyone and anywhere in a few seconds.

Supply Chain Management: As we know how hard it is to keep a track on products and shipments in the current supply chain management system. It takes a huge time and effort to create an effective supply chain management system and even harder for a startup which has a lack of experience into supply chain management.
Blockchain can solve all the problems related to supply chain management like lack of trace ability, inadequate communication between parties and getting the correct information about a shipment. So now startups don’t need to worry a lot about supply chain management of their products as this is going to be very easy with Blockchain technology.

Reaching Out to The Customers: Sometime it’s very hard to reach out to the right customer or to find out the right customer due to lack of data and other information. Most of the startups look for their customers on various social media websites like Facebook or Twitter. But the problem is they have to invest a lot of money on advertising but still not sure about the return on this investment as you may not find a customer, but they still need to pay to run an advertisement.
Blockchain can also solve this problem as it gives you the power to get the information directly from users. You can directly reach to a particular section of people and ask simple questions depending on your product and accordingly make a better marketing strategy for your product.

So, these are some major use cases of Blockchain for startups and Blockchain is a big opportunity for startups as according to a recent report of a US based firm Okta 61% of the major global digital firms are investing in Blockchain. There are so many institutional investors who are looking to invest in startups that are promising. I would like to mention a few of them below.

1.Digital Currency group: Digital Currency Group was launched in 2015 by Barry Silbert. They are investors who are currently looking into the opportunities of the digital currency market. This group provided funding for many of the earliest companies including Coinbase, Bitpay, and Ripple. Their aim is to speed up the development of Blockchain for the better financial system.

2.Blockchain capital: Blockchain Capital was founded in 2013 with the mission of helping entrepreneurs build world-class companies and projects based on Blockchain technology. Blockchain Capital is one of the oldest and most active venture investors in the Blockchain industry and has financed 75+ companies and projects since its inception.

3.Union Square Ventures: They are investors based out of New York. They have invested in Coinbase and now they have also joined the Libra association which is a Blockchain based crypto currency will be launched by Facebook. They keep looking for better opportunities to invest in Blockchain projects.

There are so many other institutions also who are actively looking to invest in the startups based on Blockchain technology. According to a recent survey conducted by Fidelity Investments 47% of institutional investors are actively investing into Blockchain based startups. So, after reading all this information we can easily understand that Blockchain is a big opportunity for startups and also this technology is going to change a lot of things in the coming years. This technology will completely transform the financial sector and also the way we make payments today. Everything is going to be a lot easier and more transparent. We will be able to make transactions without involving any third party such as banks and manufacturers will be able to sell their products directly to the consumers.