CoinGeek Zurich 2021 sponsor spotlight: Ayre Ventures eyes more investments for 2021

Businesses, including startups and growth stage companies, are often interested in raising capital and collaborating with investors of a potential long-term nature. One of the top investors in this global investment market is Ayre Ventures, a platinum sponsor of the CoinGeek Zurich Conference held this year on June 8-10.

Paul Rajchgod is the Managing Director of Venture Investments at Ayre Group. He spoke to CoinGeek about the different facets of the industry: the future of blockchain technology, BSV versus other digital currencies, and the venture capital market in particular.

Rajchgod described how Ayre Ventures provides capital as well as an extensive, scalable network to high growth businesses. Ayre Ventures is investing in companies and projects building on the BSV enterprise blockchain, which Rajchgod described as the only technology capable of serving enterprise-level data management and as a platform for nano-payments.

When asked why Ayre Ventures prefers investing in companies within the BSV ecosystem over others, Rajchgod said:

“In the beginning, we focused more on startups. But the BSV community has grown so quickly that we have shifted our focus to investing in growth-stage companies, for example, companies with 20-50 employees and perhaps $5m+ in revenue.”

Speaking about the interest of venture capitalists and other investors to focus more on BSV, Rajchgod explained that he believes many investors are still distracted by the ‘easy money’ that can result from exploiting the digital currency and the blockchain world, such as by convincing the public that there is a need for ‘yet another new cryptocurrency’. Rajchgod pointed out that just a few months ago, several websites listed over 6,000 cryptocurrencies, with that number today exceeding 10,250.

However, he also revealed that many venture capital firms, including from Silicon Valley, are showing more interest in investing within the BSV ecosystem and are sniffing around BSV deals with Ayre Ventures. Some of the largest angel investor groups have invested in businesses building on BSV, Rajchgod said, noting that the details could not be disclosed at this stage, though he also pointed out, as CoinGeek readers will have seen, that George Siosi Samuels’ accountability app Honā received funding from leading Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper’s Draper University Ventures.

“We are working toward closing a few investments in the next month or two, and we expect institutional investors, such as VCs and family offices, who are new to the BSV community will be participating with us.”

He said it is exciting to see that many upcoming investments Ayre Ventures is working on feature tokens and smart contracts.

He also mentioned there are exciting opportunities in various industries, with many businesses currently going live on BSV and posting transactions onchain, with others launching later this year in various industries.

In terms of CoinGeek Zurich, Rajchgod said he’s looking forward to dozens of presenters, “but I will call specific attention to Transmira,” Rajchgod continued, “which is an Augmentation Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mobile Reality or XR” company. He expressed his interest in seeing what they are going to talk about in Zurich.

He shared his thoughts about the conference being in Switzerland and expressed sadness over the fact that he could not make it in person. He added that he would be waking up in Antigua at 2 a.m. EST to watch live each day. In his view, Switzerland is on the leading edge of blockchain regulation and adoption. Being an investor and a board member of Zurich-based CENTI, he has seen first-hand how involved and forward-thinking the community is, including the regulators.

Why Ayre Ventures is sponsoring CoinGeek Zurich

“Switzerland is a natural fit to host a CoinGeek conference. Ayre Ventures is one of the top investors in the ecosystem, and given all the activity that’s happening in Switzerland, it is a great fit for us, and we are very happy to sponsor the event,” Rajchgod said.

Entrepreneurs and investors hugely benefit from these conferences. Given the building momentum in BSV on all fronts, he said, attendees will hear significant announcements at the event. Ayre Ventures wants the audience to know that there is a growing number of growth-stage companies and institutional investors who have shown interest in joining the BSV ecosystem. These are key decision-makers who acknowledge the benefits of the infinitely scalable public blockchain—the BSV enterprise blockchain.

Rajchgod encourages everyone to visit the Ayre Ventures virtual booth at the conference and write to them if you are a growing business ready to make the move to BSV. Register to attend the free CoinGeek Conference in Zurich.