Cleveland accelerator debuts one of midwest’s first pre-seed blockchain-only funds

Cleveland startup accelerator Flashstarts rolled out a $6 million blockchain fund on Monday that could be one of the first such funds in the region. According to details of the pre-seed fund’s deal, which was announced at Monday’s Cleveland’s Blockland Solutions Conference per Crain’s Cleveland Business, requires a minimum investment of $25,000 for individuals and $100,000 for organizations. “The combination of investment and access to beta customers will attract the best new blockchain companies to our portfolio,” said Flashstarts CEO Charles Stack in a statement. “Blockland is creating an extremely inviting ecosystem for new blockchain companies. Our new fund will be able to leverage those efforts to the benefit of our investors and our entire region.” Flashstarts is a partner with the Cleveland200 fund that is looking to invest more than $150 million in upcoming companies over the next few years. At the Cleveland conference, an organization announced that at least seven Ohio investment funds are ready to invest around $100 million in blockchain startups. Flashstarts receives some 1,000 applications per year and it could be more as blockchain is expected to only gain popularity. “It’s possible to imagine that 10% to 20% of global economic infrastructure will be running on blockchain-based systems by that same year,” the accelerator’s website reads. “In anticipation of this climb, PwC’s 2018 survey of 600 executives revealed that84% are already getting their organizations involved with blockchain technology. The Flashstarts Blockchain+ Fund is on the cutting edge of investment and will fund startups implementing blockchain and other disruptive technologies.”