Crowdz, a B2B e-commerce transaction network based on blockchain and artificial intelligence, has reportedly raised new funding.
The Silicon Valley company has signed a contract with China Venture Capital HRVC agreeing to invest in Crowdz China – a joint venture between Crowdz and a domestic Chinese technology company according to Hosting Journalist.
By applying AI principles, as well as emerging digital technologies like smart contracts and IoT tracking to antiquated & costly B2B commerce systems, the Crowdz platform claims to allow retailers, manufacturers, & brands to buy & sell products throughout the supply chain.
The global B2B commerce market will exceed $25 trillion by 2020. Yet, even by then, only about 23% of global B2B sales—and just 11% of B2B sales in the United States—will be digitised according to Crowdz.
In response, Crowdz ZenoChain allows business transactions to be executed almost instantly. It claims to accelerate purchase orders, sales orders, online purchases, invoices, payment documents, letters of credit , ship notices, bills of lading, among other transactions.
Crowdz claims that business partners, from the smallest SMBs to the largest enterprises, can be brought online in days or even hours, not the weeks or months it takes today. It can all be done at a fraction of what conventional technologies require the company states.
In February, Techstars announced that it has selected Crowdz to enter their London-based accelerator, where Crowdz will work with Barclays Bank develop a blockchain-based supply-chain financing FinTech product.
Founded in 2014, Crowdz is headed by Payson E. Johnston, former B2B supply-chain senior manager for Cisco. Its executive team boasts more than 90 years of combined experience in B2B sourcing, supply chain, blockchain, e-retail, and ecommerce.
Crowdz’s technologies are currently covered by seven pending patents, and a beta version of Crowdz’s sourcing system is currently being used by 240 seller companies offering 1.3 million products.
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