In den letzten 12 Monaten haben Startups weltweit mehr als $ 10 Mrd. Dollar Kapital durch sog. Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) von Investoren eingesammelt. Wir diskutieren die kontroverse Frage, ob ICOs wirklich die Zukunft der Start-up-Finanzierung sind und inwieweit die Blockchain-Technologie (insbes. Security Tokens) Venture Capital und Angel Investing verändern wird.

1. ICOs: die Zukunft der Start-up-Finanzierung
oder nur ein vorübergehender Hype?
Business Angel Tag| 18. Juni 2018 | Hamburg
Florian Huber
POWERED BY

3. www.chain.de
Founder/Entrepreneuer

4. www.chain.de
Angel Investments

5. www.chain.de
www.chain.de – a directory of all German Blockchain Startups

6. ICOs
Initial Coin Offerings

7. Was ist ein ICO?
www.chain.de
ICO steht für “Initial Coin Offering”
und ist eine neue Finanzierungsform
für Blockchain-Startups
Blockchain-Startups sammeln Kapital
durch den Verkauf von Tokens/Coins ein
(diese Tokens/Coins verkörpern jeweils eine
neue Cryptowährung)
Investoren sind meist eine
Vielzahl kleinerer Anleger
(deshalb Ähnlichkeiten
zum klassischen Crowdfunding)
Angels/VCs
sind überflüssig!
Coins/Tokens werden nach dem
ICOs an Cryptobörsen gelistet
(und Investoren hoffen
auf Kursteigerungen)

8. www.chain.de
ICO vs. IPO

9. www.chain.de
Funding Stages – ICO vs. IPO
Pre-Seed Seed Series A
Series
B, C, D ...
Mezzanine Pre-IPO IPO
Founders,
FFF, Angels
Angels, VCs,
Accelerators
VCs, Corporate VCs, Venture Debt,
Strategic Partners Private Equity General Public
ICO IPO
Next: Global ICO Funding

10. As of June 2018 / Sources: CB Insights, coinschedule.com, chain.de (Q1 2018 numbers include Telegram ICO: $1,700M)
ICO funding vs. Seed Funding from Angels/VCs
26 38
595
879
1226
1715
6673
2,580
1,980 1,940
2,210 2,200
2,490
3,000
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
Q3 2016 Q4 2016 Q1 2017 Q2 2017 Q3 2017 Q4 2017 Q1 2018
In Q1 2018 ICO Funding exeeds total volume of global Seed Funding (Angel, VC/all sectors)
ICO Funding in
Million $ globally
Seed Funding
(Angels, VC, all
sectors) in Million $
gobally

11. The German
ICO/Blockchain Market
www.chain.de | as of June 2018

12. Successfull German ICOs (examples)
www.chain.de | as of June 2018
Envion
$ 100M
Savedroid
$ 49M
Raiden
$ 32M
Copytrack
$ 10M
realisto
$ 1,7M

13. All German Blockchain Startups (110)
www.chain.de | as of June 2018

14. All German ICO Startups (54 out of 110)
www.chain.de | as of June 2018

15. All German ICO Startups
www.chain.de | as of June 2018
Past ICOs (26) Current ICOs (7) Upcoming ICOs (21) + stealth

16. Legal Structure of Tokens
Utility vs. Security Tokens
www.chain.de | as of June 2018

17. Legal structure of a token
www.chain.de | as of June 2018
Utility Tokens
Description: It’s best to think of a
Utility Token as a pre-paid voucher for a
non-existing services
Characteristics:
• Closely tied to the functionality of
the issuing network or application
• Internal network/app currency but
not necessarily attempting to be a
currency
• Grants owners the right to actively
contribute to the system vs. passive
investor role
• Avoids security-like features
Security Tokens Cryptocurrencies
Description: A token that behaves like a
security (“Wertpapier”)
Characteristics:
• Showcases security-like features,
e.g. voting on decisions regarding
the issuing entity, dividends, or
profit shares
• Holders are regarded as owners
• Little or insufficient utility
Description: A token that is a pure
cryptocurrency
Characteristics:
• Acts as a store of value and medium
of exchange
• Not emitted by a central authority
against which owners have claims
• Examples: Bitcoin, Litcoin, Cardano
Source: Untitled INC

18. Token Models (utility, security, currencies)
www.chain.de | as of June 2018
99%
of all ICO startups
are selling Utility Tokens
• ... to avoid regulatory issues of being
qualified as a security (=“Wertpapier”)
• ... based on the ERC20 token standard
(Ethereum Blockchain)

19. Utility Tokens: Startup’s point of view
www.chain.de | as of June 2018
• Utility tokens can be traded on a secondary market (early liquidity)
• chance of quick wins by token flipping (momentum trading)
• raise capital without giving away equity
• raise capital without giving away control
• raise capital without vesting schemes and lock-up periods
• build up a community even before the launch of the product
• regulatory issues, changing regulatory landscape
• preparing an ICO can be expansive (legal fees, marketing expenses)

20. Utility Tokens: Investor‘s point of view
www.chain.de | as of June 2018
• utility tokens can be traded on a secondary market (early liquidity)
• chance of quick wins by token flipping (momentum trading)
• no shareholder rights in the startup
• no exit and no dividend participation
• no pro-rata rights, no liquidation preferences
• no control and no information rights (“black box”)
• no real due diligence possible
• no valuation guidelines (you are probably paying too much!)

21. Two big issues with utility tokens
www.chain.de | as of April 2018
Utility tokens only make sense for:
• business models based on decentralized protocols or networks
• and business models for which decentralization gives you a real
competitive advantage to existing centralized market players
Misalignment of investors interests’ and founders’ interests as
utility tokens don‘t grant any shareholder rights in the startup.
So, the value of the utility token is decoupled from the success of the
startup (and ultimately the performance of the founders).
1
2

22. We are entering the 2nd wave of ICOs
www.chain.de | as of June 2018
1st Wave: Utility Tokens
Tokens get their value
from their utility
2nd Wave: Security Tokens
Tokens represent
ownership of assets
100X market potential

23. What happens when Venture Capital meets the Blockchain
www.chain.de | as of June 2018
Venture Capital brings:
• deal sourcing, selection, structuring
• comprehensive due diligence
• proven legal framework for balancing
investors’ and founders’ interests
• active portfolio management
The Blockchain brings:
• transparency, security, scalability
• fast and easy transactions of shares
• increased liquidity as security tokens
can be traded on exchanges
• more inclusivity (i.e. an opening to
new investor groups).

24. THANK YOU!
@florianhuber
www.chain.de

25. Backup Slides

26. The Web vs. The Blockchain

27. www.chain.de
The Web vs. The Blockchain
• The Internet of INFORMATION
• Key feature: lowering the cost
of Information Exchange
The
Blockchain
The Web
• The Internet of VALUE
• Key feature: lowering the cost of
Value Exchange

28. Source: Florian Huber, chain.de, June 2018
The Web vs. The Blockchain
The Web The Blockchain
Internet of Information Internet of Value
Killer Feature lowering the cost of information
exchange
lowering the cost of value exchange
Killer Apps Websites, Email, Search,
Social Networks, e-Commerce
Bitcoin, Smart Contracts, Tokenization of
Assets
Killer Idea Hyperlinks Distributed/Decentralized Trust
Protocols TCP/IP (e.g. HTTP, SMTP, POP, FTP) Blockchains (e.g. Bitcoin, Ethereum,
EOS, Lisk)
Date of Birth March 15, 1985 (first .com domain
registered)
January 3, 2009 (mining of block 0 on
the Bitcoin blockchain by S. Nakamoto)
Biggest Problem Security Energy Consumption
Bubble had a bubble (1995 to March 2000) is in a bubble (2017 to 20??)