Blockchain hiring platform Zinc raises £2.2m through crowdsale

12 Jun 2018

Image: amirraizat/Shutterstock

Zinc wants to bring authentic proof-of-work history via the blockchain.

London blockchain recruitment platform Zinc has raised £2.2m in one month via a three-tiered crowdsale framework.

The crowdsale project was broken into three milestones to release funds: 30pc upon the successful sale of tokens, 40pc upon main network launch in 2018 and 30pc upon reaching 10,000 active users of the network.

Once these milestones are reached, Zinc will run two additional crowdsale funding rounds over the next four years. It has committed to issuing refunds if milestones are not met.

Chain reaction

Zinc is hiring software built on blockchain technology that the company claims simplifies, accelerates and reduces the cost of the hiring journey for both workers and recruiters.

It will use the funds to continue developing its technology, which it believes will become the UK industry standard for transparent and authenticated proof-of-work history and reputation within the technology sector.

“To crowdsale or not to crowdsale became one of the biggest questions for Zinc,” said CEO Luke Shipley.

“We decided there was an opportunity to bring legitimacy to token sales with our milestone-based model, as it derisks the sale for contributors and allows us to accelerate our route to market.

“We were also keen to avoid gimmicks such as mass giveaways and large discounts that favour larger contributors, frequently offered in other funding rounds, which serve to devalue the token.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com