SXSW Startups: Knowbella
The Forrest Four-Cast: February 7, 2019
Fifty diverse startups will aim to impress a panel of judges and a live audience with their skills, creativity and innovation at SXSW Pitch Presented by Cyndx. Winners in 10 categories will be announced at the Pitch Award Ceremony at 6:30 pm Sunday, March 10, at the Hilton Austin.
A finalist in the Blockchain category, which will pitch on at 9:30 am Sunday, March 10, Knowbella has a mission to create a publicly available scientific ecosystem whereby all the research data and publication development are open and transparent.
Knowbella Tech is an open science collaboration company that uses blockchain to deliver free tools, services, grants, and intellectual properties (IP) to researchers, particularly the underserved in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Those students, citizen scientists and researchers who collaborate within the Knowbella Platform will be awarded AnthroTokens™ cryptocurrency managed on a blockchain. The holders will be able to trade these tokens. The Company is also issuing the Helix™ cryptocurrency security token via a regulatory compliant Security Token Offering (STO). Helix will have liquidity at 366 days on a tightly regulated security token exchange.
They will initially generate crowdsourcing revenues by matchmaking science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) researchers with government, academia and industry employers who pay to access the scientists seeking employment.
Knowbella founder Jason Barkeloo answered some questions about his company.
What is your competitive advantage?
We have lower costs and risks due to using blockchain to manage critical functions such as issuing and managing cryptocurrency, grants, intellectual properties and STEM career listings.
We have filed patents covering the scientific ecosystem and blockchain integrations into the system.
Our ecosystem crowdsources up to $4 trillion dollars of orphan and dormant IP, which becomes the center of the collaboration environment. It is surrounded by free tools and services such as career postings, a document development tool from our partner doDOC™, preprint server, equipment and grants.
Our team is experienced with over 150 years of research and software product development experience that includes five startups and an exit.
A significant goal is providing an environment where scientific developments done in real time can be immediately translated for public consumption.
We already have the scientific collaboration Knowbella Platform at Minimal Viable Product (MVP).
What are your goals for Knowbella in 2019?
This is an exciting time for the Company! Our first goal is to close the seed round. The use of funds will be to launch the STO, enhance the Knowbella Platform and its IP, and market the opportunity to scientists, students and citizen scientists to begin developing community and content.
We will also seek first-mover STEM recruiting customers in order to generate revenues.
Tell us about your previous experience with pitch events and tech conferences.
I’ve spoken at a number of conferences, most recently a blockchain conference in Malta and a conference focused on using blockchain for customer loyalty programs. An important takeaway from these events is the tremendous potential impact blockchain presents and how it could accelerate open science and open access.
In the two pitches that occurred in the Midwest since the close of the pre-seed round an important take away is the lack of understanding U.S. funders have about blockchain and cryptocurrency. Compared to the funders in Europe and Asia, U.S. funders significantly lag.
Knowbella is currently based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tell us about the startup ecosystem there.
Cincinnati has a conservative business environment. As such, breakthrough technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency have difficulty overcoming the status quo. This mirrors the Midwest in general. It is an ideal environment for funders as there is little funding competition. This also results in entrepreneurs with breakthrough technologies moving to areas where capital is willing to invest in potential unicorns.
On the positive, the cost of living is amongst the lowest in the nation. There are five international airports within driving distance. There are major universities that generate significantly talented potential employees. In short, more can be done with the same investor funding than on the coasts.
Looking at the entire tech industry, what trend are you most excited about?
Open science and open access publishing, particularly how they can be accelerated by blockchain.
What has the startup experience taught you about life?
Never quit! Learn and adapt.
No matter how many times someone says “no,” that galvanizes me to reflect on why the “no.” When there are enough “no’s,” then adapting by developing potential pivots.
Name three people, in any field, alive or dead, you’d like to meet and tell us why.
Albert Einstein: He used his knowledge and fame to influence public policy and distribute knowledge to the general public. I would like to know how his time in a patent office as an examiner impacted his scientific breakthroughs.
Jonas Salk: Developed the first polio vaccine but he didn’t patent it, rather kept it open for all of humanity to benefit. I would like to know what he thinks of the current pharma/drug industry.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Was the leader of the civil rights movement in the U.S. in an attempt to bring equality to everyone. I would like to know how he persevered in the effort in spite of the array of forces aligned against him.
Look for more interviews with other SXSW Pitch finalists in this space between now and March.
Click here to see all 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2019, along with the links to their interviews on Medium.
Also, if you are an entrepreneur, check out all the cool panels and presentations in the Entrepreneurship and Startups Track, which runs March 8–12 at SXSW.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
