GBCI Ventures to invest $10m for projects from its new smart-city solutions platform

Singapore-based venture capital fund GBCI Ventures has announced its first venture-built company, Building Cities Beyond (BCB) Blockchain, which will serve as a foundation for smart-city application development.

The new company is intended to host an ecosystem that will support successful smart-city solutions, including real-world applications in cities. BCB Blockchain is set to announce its first smart-city project in an emerging market soon, according to a statement. It also plans to launch regional blockchain accelerators.

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BCB Blockchain has a 100-strong team in Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, China, and the Philippines. GBCI has put aside a US$10 million fund for investments in projects developed under BCB Blockchain.

GBCI, which is focused on investing in early-stage, smart city-focused startups, said it plans to launch a blockchain-focused fund in the future. It is also currently working on other venture-built companies that leverage its own pool of talents.

“Currently, GBCI is building several companies in succession with core ideas that come from within the company or with partners,” said CEO and co-founder Douglas Gan. “BCB Blockchain is the first venture-built company we spent many months investing in, and a great business has sprung out of it.”

Early this year, GBCI launched a US$100 million smart-city development fund that focuses on investments in technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, internet of things, and virtual reality.