SatoshiPay
Private | |
Founded | 2014 |
Founder |
Meinhard Benn (CEO) Henning Peters (Technical Advisor) Kilian Thalhammer (Payment Advisor) |
Headquarters | London, U.K. |
Area served | Global |
Products | Nanopayment processing |
Website | Official Website |
SatoshiPay is a company that processes nanopayment transactions usually in the form of bitcoins (or smaller Bitcoin units called, "satoshis").[1] The company is currently developing a two-way payment platform that will allow content providers to charge consumers a small fee (as low as one satoshi or a fraction of a cent) to read, watch, or listen to content.[2][3][4] In September 2015, the company received seed funding from British entrepreneur Jim Mellon's investment firm, Kuala Innovations.[5]
History
SatoshiPay was founded in Berlin, Germany in 2014[3][6] by Meinhard Benn, Henning Peters, and Kilian Thalhammer. Benn serves as the company's CEO.[7] The company was a part of the Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator, which included numerous other technology companies.[8][9] In October 2014, the company received €50,000 in funding in part from the Axel Springer Accelerator.[10] In July 2015, SatoshiPay won second place at the Coinbase BitHack v2.[3][6][11]
In September 2015, the company received €160,000 in seed funding from Kuala Innovations, an investment firm run by British entrepreneur Jim Mellon and Canadian entrepreneur Stephen Dattels. As part of the deal, Kuala Innovations acquired a 10% stake in SatoshiPay.[5] According to Kuala Innovations, their investment was part of a larger funding round led by Coinsilium, an investment company focused on blockchain technology.[12] The company released a closed beta version of their technology in November 2015. Their first WordPress plug-in is due to be released in December 2015.[7] The company expects a full release of its software by the first half of 2016.[5]
Technology
SatoshiPay's technology is a two-way platform that enables content providers to charge consumers small amounts of money to gain access to the provider's media. These fees are referred to as "nanopayments,"[7] and they can be as small as a fraction of a cent.[6][13] This is differentiated from traditional paywall subscription services in that each piece of content can be purchased individually. Users pay per article, per song, and per download.[5] In terms of an article, users may pay per paragraph depending on whether or not they want to keep reading.[3] SatoshiPay's payment mechanism works across websites and allows consumers to use the service without having to sign up or download software.[2]
References
- ↑ Cancian, Daniel (21 September 2015). "Kuala Innovations acquires stake in SatoshiPay". DigitalLook. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- 1 2 Grundy, Chris (6 September 2015). "Why the Future of Bitcoin Lies in Europe". CoinDesk. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 Brenneis, Friedemann (3 August 2015). "SatoshiPay – Bitcoin-Nanopayment aus Berlin" (in German). Coinspondent. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ Holmes, B. (16 October 2015). "Kuala Innovations Injects Funds Into Factom To 'Unlock Embedded Value'". Brave New Coin. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 Warner, Joshua (21 September 2015). "Kuala Innovations Invests In Nanopayment Provider SatoshiPay". London South East. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- 1 2 3 Grundy, Chris (14 August 2015). "Digital Currency Startups Prosper in Berlin's Vibrant Bitcoin Community". Bitcoin Magazine. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- 1 2 3 Kyriasoglou, Christina (29 September 2015). "Britischer Warren Buffet investiert in Nanopayment-Startup". Gründerszene. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ Kannenberg, Axel (19 December 2014). "Axel Springer fördert Bitcoin-Startups" (in German). Heise Online. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ Skrabania, Lydia (25 November 2014). "Das sind die zwölf neuen Startups bei Axel Springer Plug and Play" (in German). Gründerszene. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ "October 27, 2014 - Funding Round Angel". www.crunchbase.com. CrunchBase. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ "Coinbase Announces Winners of BitHack v2". Coinbase. 2 July 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ Bello Perez, Yessi (21 September 2015). "SatoshiPay Gets €160,000 Investment from Jim Mellon Fund". CoinDesk. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ Allison, Ian (8 July 2015). "Bitcoin's blockchain technology could give back more than software has ever eaten up". International Business Times. Retrieved 17 October 2015.