Portuguese blockchain-based open innovation platform TAIKAI has raised €2 million in a funding round led by FinLab EOS VC Fund. Existing investor Bright Pixel and new investor Portugal Ventures also participated in the round. The new funding will fuel international expansion in Europe and Brazil and the development of hiring solutions for companies and startups.
The Portugal-based startup caught C3 Management’s attention due to the use of their technology, but also to their potential of disrupting the hiring processes across the world. Founded in 2018, TAIKAI started as an open innovation platform, helping Portuguese companies reach new solutions and products through challenges to a community of developers, designers, and others. These ‘challenges’ can now address the needs of any company around the world and the solution can be developed by any innovator around the world too. Therefore, TAIKAI has grown and turned into a global open innovation platform with a community of more than 50,000 innovators. It also became a highly relevant, attractive pool of talent, which led to the company’s next step: disrupt hiring processes.
“We strongly believe blockchain technology can have a positive impact across industries. TAIKAI has enormous potential, not only because of its use of the EOSIO software but also for its ambition to become an integrated solution for innovation and hiring processes in any company, driven by an ambitious, talented team. It’s with great enthusiasm that we join this journey,” explained Theo Woik, Managing Partner of FinLab EOS VC Fund.
Mario Alves, co-founder and CEO of TAIKAI, sees this round as an opportunity to create a strong ecosystem of innovation. “TAIKAI has been receiving support from the community since its inception and has already helped more than 100 global companies solve their innovation challenges. Now it is time to go further and have a wider impact on businesses, addressing two of their most urgent needs – innovation and recruitment. That is why we will launch in September an acceleration programme for startups.”
The Portuguese investors Bright Pixel and Portugal Ventures have also joined the new funding round, reinforcing the trust in TAIKAI’s team, solutions, and business strategy. Benjamin Júnior, head of investments at Bright Pixel, enhances that “The disruptive capacity of blockchain technologies is the order of the day, especially for its potential impact on several market segments. This vision of building a value proposition for the
market was shared, from very early on, by the TAIKAI team and Bright Pixel, which, within the scope of its program, helped to create the MVP and followed the evolution of the product and the company. Thus, we are extremely pleased to see that the project has grown, attracted key national and international investors, and is now facing the challenge of reaching new markets. We are certain that the team with the help of these new partners will be up to the challenge”.
Rui Ferreira, Vice President of Portugal Ventures, also added: “We are delighted to add TAIKAI to the Portugal Ventures portfolio, helping to grow its solution and fostering a culture of innovation in businesses, SMEs and Startups. The team led by Mario Alves and Helder Vasconcelos will embark on a new stage of business development with help from Portugal Ventures and its know-how in expanding to new markets, revolutionizing recruitment in Portugal and Europe with its platform, which already has over 50,000 developers. TAIKAI is yet another reference project in Portugal, aimed at becoming the next European tech hub.”
The funding round will support its international expansion and the development of hiring features. In order to do that, TAIKAI will grow its development, marketing, and sales team to 24 people by the end of 2021.
