Chronicled Raises $16M
Thanks to Forbes –
Chronicled, Inc., a software technology company that gives industries and enterprises the tools to build blockchain-powered supply chain ecosystems, announced today that it has raised $16 Million in Series A funding. The round was led by Mandra Capital, with participation from Streamlined Ventures, The Perkins Fund, Frank Fiore, and David Aho.
Founded in 2014, Chronicled has been one of the earliest businesses to develop a commercial enterprise platform based on blockchain technology. The company’s network management tools and library of privacy-protected protocols are designed to help enterprises in various industries secure and automate their supply chains, streamline business processes, and reduce operational costs.
Moreover, Chronicled was the first supply chain company to employ zk-SNARKS, a form of zero-knowledge cryptography that ensures full privacy for all involved parties, while solving blockchain scalability issues on a commercial scale.
What excites us about Chronicled is that they are building blockchain application networks for the long-term, said SongYi Zhang, Principal of Mandra Capital. While many companies in the space are conducting ICOs – fueling speculation and hurting the legitimacy of the space – Chronicled has stayed disciplined and pursued traditional funding, while focusing on developing needed applications with quantifiable ROI value.”
According to Ryan Orr, co-founder and chairman of Chronicled, the $16 Million Series A funding will be used to support the pharmaceutical industry network and operational growth.
We are aware that the pharmaceutical industry has certain problems with regulations that are ripe for this technology platform. With the Series A funding, we are focusing on the pharmaceutical go-to-market. After a year or two, there could the possibility of applying this technology to other industries, but for the next 12-18 months we are focusing the company specifically on the pharmaceutical industry.”
In addition to the round of financing, Chronicled announced Susanne Somerville, Founder of MediLedger, as the company’s new CEO. Under the new business leadership, the company is well positioned to take on the pharmaceutical industry, as Chronicled is currently piloting the MediLedger Beta Network with a group of major companies, including manufacturers, distributors, and solution providers. There are plans to launch the network commercially in 2019. This stimulus of funding will enable expansion of the MediLedger Network with service provider integrations and additional protocols that address channel integrity and chargebacks, contracting, and revenue management.
Why Blockchain Technology Is Ripe For The Pharma Industry
While the pharmaceutical industry has typically been very conservative, Somerville notes that there has been pressure on this sector to adopt technological innovation.
In particular, there are two reasons the pharmaceutical industry is ripe for blockchain technology. First, consider the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), which was enacted by congress in 2013. This legislation requires the pharma industry to be interoperable. So, when a drug is passed from one party to another, there needs to be a way to record this. There hasn’t been a solid solution for this just yet, and blockchain technology can help track the drug supply chain,” Somerville said.
Somerville also points out that the healthcare industry is currently evaluating ways to change their business models.
It’s actually the right time for this conservative industry to revaluate ways of doing business, which is why this is the perfect time to bring our solution to the pharma industry. There is so much that blockchain technology can bring to this sector that a database simply can’t, like precision recalls, value based pricing, automation of reconciliation, fraud eliminations and more,” Somerville told me.
Furthermore, the benefits that blockchain technology can bring to the pharmaceutical industry as a whole are promising.
Instead of bringing just one company and their suppliers on a network, we have brought an entire industry together to realize what we call ‘collaborative ROI.’ We think the future of blockchain is about helping an industry come together to develop protocols that they all want to follow and benefit from. It’s that protocol and those business rules that are embedded on the blockchain, which provides a network that the industry can all participate in together,” Somerville explained.
Look At The Long Term, Not The Market
While Chronicled’s series A round is notable in itself, the company’s recent achievements also demonstrates a much larger take away – the cryptocurrency market should not be a determining factor for a company’s success.