ORLANDO, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Global Blockchain Ventures, LLC, (GBV) announces the launch of their $100,000,000 blockchain technology focused venture capital fund, Global Blockchain Ventures Fund, LP, with lead investor Stonegate Digital Capital Group committing a seven-figure investment to seed the fund.
“We’ve assembled a dream team of leaders in finance and technology that will accelerate Blockchain innovations from across the globe. Our platform goes well beyond cryptocurrency investment to unlock the power of Blockchain to transform our world, particularly health, education, and enterprise systems.”
Global Blockchain Ventures has a core investment focus on blockchain technology and synergistic technology platforms including Internet of Things, MedTech, and Artificial Intelligence. GBV is led by Al Weiss, David Metcalf Ph.D., Max Hooper, Ph.D., and Dieter Kondek. Each brings a unique and impressive resume to the table ranging from decades of venture capital, institutional investment experience to international entrepreneurial and corporate success with leading Fortune 500 companies like Disney, IBM, Dell, NASA, and Techdata.
Chairman & General Partner of GBV, Al Weiss, commented on this announcement, “This is a very exciting time in history and we are blessed to be at the forefront of a technology that possesses the potential, and is well on its way, to disrupt all industries. My partners and I truly believe and understand this technology and we are excited to fuel innovation in blockchain and distributed ledger technology. This technology has vast potential for beneficial and practical use cases for economic growth and positive social impact.”
GBV is in the process of building out a strong and capable team of advisors and venture partners, as well as forming strong relationships with other likeminded Venture Funds. Together they want to execute their mission of assisting the most disruptive and promising projects with the ability to offer actual, practical blockchain enabled applications to benefit State of Florida and the global economy.
Global Blockchain Ventures will take a unique approach to bridge the worlds of traditional venture capital investing and the world of blockchain and digital asset investing. GBV will not only provide capital, they will get involved and provide their portfolio companies with a supportive ecosystem to position them for long-term success. GBV and its consortium have created an ecosystem where promising technology companies can grow and thrive.
An example of this is its close partnership with the University of Central Florida (UCF) and its Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Lab (METIL), which is led by Dr. David Metcalf. Dr. Metcalf, who also founded and managed a NASA spinoff, stated, “We’ve assembled a dream team of leaders in finance and technology that will accelerate Blockchain innovations from across the globe. Our platform goes well beyond cryptocurrency investment to unlock the power of Blockchain to transform our world, particularly health, education, and enterprise systems.”
Global Blockchain Ventures was formed to leverage the decades of experience of this investment team and the ecosystem they have built to offer sophisticated investors a unique fund structure to take advantage of this opportunity. GBV’s growing list of global alliances, found here, provide global deal-flow, expertise, and growth support for GBV’s portfolio companies.
As part of their investment and execution strategy, the Fund intends to leverage its strategic alliances across the globe, such as its alliance with Blockchain Financial Group (BFG), a blockchain technology business with operations in financial services, ICO consulting, advisory and research, as well as blockchain technology and cryptocurrency investments. BFG holdings include Stonegate Global Fund Services, Stonegate Global Financial Technologies and Stonegate Digital Capital Group.
John McCorvey III, Board of Advisors at GBV, and CEO Blockchain Financial Group and Stonegate Digital Capital Group commented on the venture, saying, “We have had a long-standing relationship with the GBV team and made an investment in the fund given the opportunity to work more closely with them to support promising Blockchain ventures. The background of the team members speaks volumes about their capabilities and the global alliances they have built in Israel, Europe & India will create a strong deal flow of blockchain solution companies for the fund, specifically in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Healthcare, MedTech, Gaming and the Internet of Things.”
More about GBV’s General Partners:
Al Weiss has a 39-year career at Disney. His last position was President of Worldwide Operations for Disney’s $10 Billion+/95,000 employee Walt Disney Parks and Resorts business. He serves on multiple boards and has been a crucial part of many mergers and acquisitions across industries. He was named “Most Influential Businessman in Central Florida” by the Orlando Business Journal in 2005.
David Metcalf, Ph.D. has more than 20 years; experience in the design and research of web-based and mobile technologies converging to enable learning and healthcare. After founding and running a spinoff for NASA, Dr. Metcalf became and is currently the Director of the Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Lab (METIL) at the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training. Dr. Metcalf is active on several for-profit and nonprofit boards and has launched several successful for-profit and nonprofit ventures.
Max Hooper, Ph.D. has over 30 years’ experience serving leadership positions for financial services with a specialty for debt and equity financing, he studied FinTech and Blockchain with cohorts at MIT and Crypto Currencies and Business Disruption with cohorts at the London School of Economics. Dr. Hooper along with Dr. Metcalf have co-authored “Blockchain Enabled Applications” [2017].
Dieter Kondek has over 30 years’ experience as an entrepreneur, startup investor and senior executive in the technology industry. Dieter is currently Ambassador Florida for the Society3 World Innovation Forum. He co-founded and exited multiple successful startups and served as CEO and other senior leadership positions in software and infrastructure technologies industries for companies such as IBM, Dell, Pivot3 and Techdata. Mr. Kondek has played crucial roles in launching and scaling companies from $0 to $10m, $10m to $50m, and $100m to $1.5 billion.
