Review.Network, a blockchain startup improving the review and market research industries that has been referred to as “the Yelp! Of Blockchain”, announced on August 14, 2018, that is has secured $1.4 million (USD) in Seed Funding.
The funding, which includes investments from private investors, is being used to help grow the team and further the development of the platform. The company, which amassed 100,000 beta users in just five days and boasts a team with deep experience in tech, academia and financing, is also announcing that it will have an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on Sept. 1, 2018.
“Worldwide, consumers often form opinions and make decisions — like where to eat, sleep, drink, play and even work — based on online reviews,” said Filip Karaicic, CEO and Co-Founder of Review Network. “However, as it stands today, there are two major problems with the review industry – efficacy and transparency. Reports and data have proven people are more inclined to leave reviews when there is a negative experience, which means there is not an accurate representation of all experiences; and that many reviews are often fake. However, thanks to distributed ledger and AI [artificial intelligence] technologies, we have figured out a way to incentivize reviews – positive and negative – and ensure their accuracy. We also figured out a way to allow brands to tap into our validated reviewer base for market research. This funding, which we’re thrilled to announce, validates our approach and will help us develop this event even faster.”
Review Network’s platform, which is outlined in great detail in the company’s whitepaper, improves the efficacy and transparency in two basic ways. First, they have a well-designed token economics system that provides monetary incentives to those who contribute in a way that benefits the community as a whole and punishes those who do not. Second, the platform has a decentralized community consensus system in which the community self regulates. For example, when someone writes a review, it is then validated by chosen community members (either at random, by reputation, by blind auction, or even depending on the size of their stake in the system).
The network will also allow companies to directly interact with people providing reviews for the most straightforward and accurate market research. The platform, which will work across all industries (restaurant, hotels, etc.), will launch in Beta in Q4 this year. At that time it will be made available to its 100,000 Beta users, who signed up in less than five days.
Review Network has already amassed a team of over 30 very qualified staffers and advisors, including Robert Golladay, former head of IBM’s digital business automation business in Europe; Reinhard Fellmann, Ph.D., a former investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Lecturer at The London School of Economics and Political Science; and Ivan Bjelajac, a former Director at GoDaddy (EU).
The company is currently in presale and will launch an ICO on Sept. 1, 2018. It is currently in talks with OKEx, Huobi, Cryptopia, Bitfinex, Bittrex, Kraken, Poloniex, Bibox, Bcex and hitBTC, to be listed on their exchanges.
