Momentum Works & Morpheus Labs ICO Collaborations

On 24 Feb 2018, Momentum Works signed an MOU with The Morpheus Labs, a blockchain platform-as-a-service (PaaS) startup. The two companies will spearhead a series of collaboration on blockchain & ICO projects across Asia. See the e27 news here.

Jianggan Li, Founder & CEO of Momentum Works, said, “We believe ICO as a more efficient, transparent and accountable mode of venture financing. So far, it is yet to achieve its full potential. As with any funding means, a successful ICO will need to have strong fundamentals and a sound execution team. The collaboration with Morpheus Labs is one of the key steps we are taking to revamp the ecosystem.”

No doubt there is a bit of froth and euphoria about ICO. Csaba Robert Horvath one of the co-founders of Mithqal which offers digital assets due diligence and structuring service aptly sums up the current sentiment on the ICO craze in 24 words on twitter:

How to stand out in a crowded pipeline

Momentum Works indeed believes that ICO is a more democratic way of raising money. It allows enterprises to reach out to the market instead of going through the traditional process of going through a VC, trade sales or IPO process.

The current challenge, however, is that as more and more companies opt to raise money through ICOs, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to stand out.

As a result, to reach out to investors (and to explain to investors why they should invest), startups spend a lot of money on legal fees, underwriting and especially marketing.

It is no longer surprising that some exchanges charge millions of dollars for listing. Well, supply & demand, plus information asymmetry – all very familiar issues.

October 2017 sounds like centuries ago

Momentum Works moderated a very interesting INSEAD panel discussion on ICO in October 2017 which we shared in a blog here. The conclusion of the panel then, extracted below is still quite apt today:

“There were people saying that bitcoins wouldn’t survive when it started a few years back, and now we are seeing the ICO evolution. Yes, there is a bit froth and euphoria about ICOs.. . But along the way,  if you believe in the market forces, then there will be a new equilibrium. People will wise up to the value ICOs and encourage proper behaviour. At the end of the day, ICOs are not a silver bullet which will completely change the world. It’s just one tool, an effective one, which needs to be put to proper use.”

At the end of the day, as Momentum Works have also said – fundamentals of success is how strong the implementation is, and how fast the team can scale a (sustainable) product.

Having that confidence, Momentum Works is looking forward to more exciting milestones through the collaboration with Morpheus Labs.

Now the magic starts. The Momentum Works and Morpheus Labs team. From left to right: Pei-han Chuang, Ritwik Grover, Dorel D. Burcea, Yorlin Ng, Bruce Lu Yang, and Jianggan Li