Ternio, an Alpharetta-based startup providing a scalable and decentralized blockchain framework, is raising a series A round of $10 million shortly following its initial coin offering.
San Francisco private financial group US Capital Global has partnered with Ternio to support the firm's capital formation needs, according to a news release. Ian Kane, founder and COO of Ternio, said the funding would be used to build out the team and continue to focus heavily on R&D and marketing.
"So primarily [the funding will be used] to maintain our personnel advantage," Kane said. "We’ve been really focused on the blockchain business application and digital advertising and our value on a core level is really having a blockchain that can scale at a high transaction level."
The current Ternio team is a small startup of 12 people, Kane said, but with the new funding, they hope to grow. Kane said the company was less focused on adding a certain amount of new hires by the end of the year and more interested in quality over quantity.
"Instead of kind of beating our chest and say we’ve got 20 people, lets’ get 12 really talented people, and that’s how we’ll be approaching this growth," he said. "We want to ensure that we’re building a team that’s building a strong foundation for Ternio."
Ternio's first application of their blockchain technology is in the programmatic advertising space, Kane said. For the remainder of the year, the startup will focus on demonstrating the benefits of blockchain and how it works, with the first pilot going live in October. That includes a conference called The Atlanta Blockchain Experience to be held at the Coca-Cola Roxy on Dec. 3.
In 2019, the company hopes to distribute 100,000 Block Cards, which will be used for B2B transactions on its blockchain platform.
"Next year, it’s going to be on-boarding as many advertising agencies as possible in order to actually use our technology," he said.
Ternio incorporated in December 2017. Prior to this $10 million raise, the company had a successful initial coin offering, Kane said, but was keeping the exact amount raised close to the chest.
"We exceeded our $3 million soft cap and that was pretty early on in the race," he said.
Overall, Ternio's main goal is to establish better understanding of blockchain technology and how it can be utilized across multiple industries.
"Our philosophy is we want to actually push the utilization of blockchain and cryptocurrency in the real world," he said.
