Title:
RISKebiz MicroEquity Funding Platform
Summary:
The RISKebiz MicroEquity platform is a service where entrepreneurs can share their ideas for microenterprises and have them funded through equity offerings.
Category:
Applications, Tools & Infrastructure
Goals:
We believe micro equity helps to realize the full potential of microfinance by addressing some of the key challenges with microcredit. However, there are challenges in offering Microequity to microenterprises because microenterprises are not incorporated and have no legal structure, there is no exit for the business, either through sale or IPO, microenterprises rarely use external accountants and may not keep formal records at all, and most transactions are in cash. We believe blockchain technology, and in particular Stellar, offers a solution to the most important of these challenges. Our plan is to address each challenge through our micro equity platform and increase the utilization of micro equity as a replacement to micro credit in the process.
Timeline:
February 2020 - beta platform completed.
June to September 2020 - rollout with microfinance institution (MFI).
June to September 2020 - addition of accredited investors.
Ongoing - improvements to UI, debugging, development of mobile app.
Description:
Our MicroEquity platform is built on the Stellar Blockchain. The key feature of Stellar that has application to solve MicroEquity challenges is its ability to issue assets. Assets can be issued just like shares in a company, and it is recorded on an immutable public ledger than everyone can see. Blockchain assets have been used extensively for Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) and now the regulated version Security Token Offerings (STO).
Through our platform, microenterprises can create their own asset with custom name or symbol just as they would incorporating a company. Just as a company would set the number of shares to be issued in an incorporation, they set the number of assets to be issued on the Stellar blockchain. These assets can then be distributed to investors through our platform.
The issued assets are publicly visible, but ownership is anonymous. The holder of the private key for the asset is able to move them. This transparency makes it possible to confirm with 100% certainty that certain assets were issued to an investor, and this would be irrefutable.
Once assets are issued, they can be traded on a decentralized exchange much in the same way that shares in company are tradeable on a stock exchange like the TSX V. Because the exchanges are decentralized, any asset can be listed, and cost is minimal.
RISKebiz employs a prediction market to help determine the potential of a listed microenterprise to succeed. This reduces the amount of time investors will need to spend evaluating each opportunity and provide some feedback for entrepreneurs that their pitch may need some improvement.
To begin exploring investment opportunities, users select “Browse Ideas” from the home page. This will take them to the Idea listing page where all entrepreneur ideas are posted. Ideas are ranked based on probability of funding which is determined through the Prediction Market. Selecting an idea from the list, the user is taken to the Idea details page where information about the Idea is displayed including the Idea title, pitch, date, funding probability percentage (based on Prediction Market). User is presented with a button to make a prediction on the funding probability. Also included on this page are a list of comments posted about the Idea from other users and the number of Likes. From this page the user can add their own comment or add a Like. If the user is interested in getting more information on the opportunity from the entrepreneur, he/she can select the option to message the entrepreneur directly.
Greater detail on the platform and the project in general is available in the business summary accessible at the link below.
Links:
Platform - www.riskebiz.com
VIDEO - REGISTRATION & IDEA CREATION - https://youtu.be/4v6rWZCmPHU
VIDEO - CREATING AN OFFERING - https://youtu.be/WQ1pVqUoZMY
VIDEO - PREDICTION MARKET - https://youtu.be/LTazumVVOls
Business Summary - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IwQghosGzaro62XHUrMNymfAS0LcZNqi/view?usp=sharing
Tags: microfinance, microequity, asset, offering, microcredit, stellar, blockchain
