15 startups awarded €1.8M to increase online trust with blockchain

The European Commission (EC)’s NGI TrustChain initiative has awarded an additional €1.8M in grant funding to leading European startups to combat online misinformation and false identity in online spaces with blockchain-based technologies. The EC project is now announcing the 15 latest startup recipients of ‘democracy grants’ who will each receive up to €117,000 in grant funding. The winning recipients come from ten European countries and were chosen in a highly competitive selection process from 162 interested startups.

This is the 3rd cohort of the NGI TrustChain Project to tackle these critical issues, which have only increased in importance due to spillover of political, social and military conflicts into the online sphere. To date, NGI TrustChain has provided more than €4.6M in funding to 43 companies. 

Yuting Jiang, CEO of grant recipient ZKorum, said, “We’re working with TrustChain to depolarize the online social landscape so democracy has breathing room for inclusive discussion. Trustchain will help with adoption of our polling and discussion tools, as well as our user and privacy friendly identity verification platform.” 

Dr. Muttukrishnan Rajarajan, Professor and Director of the Institute of Cyber Security at City, University of London: “Misinformation, hate speech and online harm in democracy is a pressing issue - nearly half of the world’s population are voting in national elections this year. Trustchain startups are working to use blockchain, identity, privacy and interoperable decentralised technologies so that the internet ecosystem can give the public confidence in online activities.”

Sean Kane, co-founder and Chair of the F6S startup network, said, “It’s not surprising that only 6 in 10 of us trust online information - fake and deceptive information is everywhere. These 15 latest grants will help top new European blockchain and identity startups empower trusted discussion in European digital public spaces.” 

The latest Trustchain startup grant recipients include:

• ZKorum (France):

• Develops open-source solutions to rehumanise and depolarise the online social landscape for a more inclusive and democratic world.

• AI-MetaBloQ (Greece):

• Designs, provides and implements IT solutions for the life science sector; integrates and manages data from all entities within the sector and offers valued services. 

• Compellio (Luxembourg):

• Provides global infrastructure components to bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 computing for public and private organisations.

• Forkbomb BV (Netherlands):

• Provides components and solutions for cryptography, identity and blockchain interop to make cryptography available to the masses.

• ENISMARO (Italy):

• Offers an end-to-end solution able to track and trace the food production  process and to enforce transparency by disclosing information about the products to the parties of the chain and to the end consumers.

• Arsys Internet (Spain):

• Creating a data aggregation platform to incentivize data sharing and create quality datasets.

• Acurraent UG (Germany):

• Supports small and medium sized enterprises to re-structure, digitalise and expand, specialising in UX/UI and Web3 research.

• In Trade 4 You (Italy):

• Facilitates access to international trade for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

• QX by Qpick (Poland):

• Transforms customer experiences and loyalty for brands, retailers and smart cities worldwide with a blockchain-powered travel experience wallet and digital ID.

• Digital Democracy World (Sweden):

• A non-profit association that aims to support and promote effective democratic organisation of people at all levels and at all types of organisation.

• Pavlos Efraimidis (Greece):

• Aims to develop FLORA, an innovative ovulation tracking app that harnesses Federated Learning to promote transparency and enhance users’ privacy.

• City and Me doo Nis (Serbia):

• Provides digital support for interactive and sustainable communities.

• Gheorghe Asachi Tech, University Iasi (Romania):

• Provides a trustworthy open-source platform for growing ideas, projects, and business plans.

• SecureOpinion (United Kingdom):

• Leverages decentralised blockchain systems to create a secure and privacy-preserving solution for public opinion sharing on social media platforms, fostering increased trust and transparency.

• Neuron AI (Greece):

• Develops and delivers artificial intelligence solutions in the EU and global market.