According to top venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), blockchain technology could soon enjoy tremendous success. This well-established VC firm in the US has been funding technologies in the IT industry and in biotechnology since 1972.
So far, KPCB hasn’t made any investments in bitcoin or blockchain technology firms but it could do so with its KPCB Edge fund. This seed-stage investment component was introduced last month and has a budget of $4 million.
Blockchain Technology Potential
Blockchain is the public ledger of transactions associated with bitcoin. While some have raised the question of blockchain not existing without bitcoin, a number of banks and governments have already expressed interest in blockchain technology when it comes to their internal record keeping operations.
“I see the bitcoin blockchain as an implementation of blockchain technology – so I’m interested in both the generalizable stack, as well as any specific implementations that see developer adoption,” shared founding partner Anjney Midha who the firm’s youngest partner and a former Google policy fellow.
Midha mentioned that significant developer adoption could be the key in bringing blockchain technology to the mainstream. He added that it could be the most important metric in evaluating opportunities in the current bitcoin ecosystem.
“Historically, the combination of a new platform’s capabilities and rapid developer adoption has produced significant value for users,” Midha wrote in a blog post. “Take the case, for example, of the mobile stack between 2008–2015. Incredible value was created with each new capability developers could access on mobile.”
The VC’s interest in blockchain technology and bitcoin has also been reflected in their decision to add Backslash founder Roneil Rumburg to the staff of the new venture. “Rumberg worked with the bitcoin stack as a founder less than 12 months ago. Few other VCs have this timely and technically rigorous background when it comes to blockchains,” Midha explained. “This allows him to both empathize with and think critically about founders in this space.”
