The blockchain ecosystem made great leaps forward in 2016, with dozens of new companies, funding rounds and partnerships making headlines.
Using Outlier Ventures' Blockchain Ecosystem Tracker with over 1200 listed blockchain startups, Frost & Sullivan and Outlier Ventures have evaluated the market and mapped 130 major blockchain startups into their key activity areas.
“We are still at the beginning of a long journey for blockchain startups. Investment in 2016 reached an all-time high of over $500 million, bringing total investment in blockchain technology startups to $1.5 billion,” said Vijay Michalik, Digital Transformation Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
“While the technology’s ecosystem is still in its early phases, 2016 saw a clear progression away from cryptocurrency towards generalized financial services and enterprise infrastructure. The technology is also making new inroads into vertical industries like energy, healthcare and the automotive sector.”
Lawrence Lundy, Head of Research & Partnerships at Outlier Ventures, noted: “Blockchains and distributed ledger technologies have seen high levels of interest and exploration from corporates in 2016. As the hype calms down, the next year should see real-world commercial deployments in specific value-add applications."
