Music courtesy of BlackIrisFilms.com

Andy Pickering – Host

Welcome to Unleashed with the Dacxi Chain, a Dacxi podcast where we learn all about the Dacxi Chain and the incredible opportunities it unlocks. This is episode three in our special three-part series, acknowledging and celebrating the launch of the very first stage of the Dacxi Chain. I am, of course, joined again by Dacxi Chain CEO Mr. Ian Lowe. In this episode, we’re going to dig deep into the Dacxi Chain roadmap and explore again the vision of the Dacxi Chain and the future of equity crowdfunding. Welcome back, Ian. 

Ian Lowe – Guest

Thanks, Andy. Good to be talking to you. 

Andy Pickering – Host

So as I say, today we’re going to talk about the roadmap of the Dacxi Chain. But before we do that, just recap again for us, how is the innovative approach of Dacxi Chain about to shape the future of equity crowdfunding? 

Ian Lowe – Guest

Yeah, I’d be happy to. So look, in a nutshell, equity crowdfunding today represents less than 1% of the capital that finds its way into growth companies. We think that’s a huge missed opportunity. And realizing the opportunity for equity crowdfunding is about offering it a future built around scale and enabling that scale so that different platforms essentially can tap into each other’s crowds. And equally, those platforms can enrich their catalog and investment opportunities so that they can build, attract, and build a larger crowd on their own platform. So the Dacxi Chain technology is a set of tools, a set of pipes if you like, that allows those licensed, established, reputable, existing crowdfunding platforms to connect directly with each other. 

And we do that under a decentralized model where we’re not a competing destination for investors to come, nor are we competing in any way, shape, or form with the partners using the network in trying to find growth companies looking for growth capital. And so that is the proposition. That Dacxi Chain proposition, we think with a few cycles of growth behind it as we sign more platforms, redraws the lines of the innovation economy by offering equity crowdfunding a much bigger seat at the table and more specifically, individual investors, more and more access to great investment opportunities and for companies looking for growth capital. Access to more capital, faster capital, and over time, potentially even cheaper capital. 

Andy Pickering – Host

Yes, indeed. All right, I said we’d talk about the product roadmap, Ian, so how should we frame this? Tell us what you can about the Dacxi Chain’s strategic blueprint for the future of equity crowdfunding and what that looks like in terms of where we are on the roadmap at the moment and of course where we hope to get to in the future. Lay it out. 

Ian Lowe – Guest

So look, the core proposition is about saying we’ve gone out and researched the market, we’ve built some requirements, we’ve gone and developed a launch platform and we’ve signed and integrated some foundation partners and then the first deal will flow through those pipes. We expect that first deal to be successful and at the end of that first deal we’re really going to refocus on two core streams of work. The first is spreading the good news so we can go out and share the details of what we’ve built, how it works, the benefits associated with that, and all of the insights from that first deal with other partners and starting to build the network. 

Because it is that network effect and the compound growth in deal flow that we get from that network effect that will ultimately realize the vision of providing real scale through this technology to the equity crowdfunding industry. So that stream of work really kicks off in earnest at that point. In combination with that, there’s a whole range of new product features that we want to bring into the technology itself. And so these are features that are focused on providing additional value to the two primary beneficiaries, being the issuer that is the company raising capital, and the investor that’s actually putting the money into that business in exchange for equity. And so there’s a range of ways in which we think we can bring incremental value to the table of both of those parties. 

The first as it relates to the issuer, is to realize that ultimately their interests are represented by the platform that they partner with to help them raise the capital. And so for those platforms, we are looking to bring insights around deal flow and a whole bunch of different metrics that we can look at across the entire network, not just within individual platforms themselves, and help them learn from those insights as to how they can more successfully attract companies in the first place to look at equity crowdfunding as their chosen source of capital for growth, and equally, how they can help those growth companies market their business in order to close a successful capital raising round through the crowd. So they’re the benefits on the issuer side of the transaction. 

But then on the investor side, as we start to enrich the catalog of investment opportunities for those investors, we believe there are some really great tools that we can bring into the experience they’re having with each of those local crowdfunding platforms. 

So remember, those investors do not come to Dacxi Chain, they access these opportunities through their local licensed crowdfunding platform, the platform that they might already be using for example. But there are some tools that we can offer those crowdfunding partners of ours which in turn they can expose to individual investors on their own platforms, which we think will help build the confidence of those investors around what is the right opportunity for them to say how do I best understand that opportunity? And what does the path to harvest, including potential time frames, start to look like? 

And of course, when we talk about harvests being a blockchain enabled infrastructure, it means that we can offer individual investors that path to a harvest event, the time frame of which is their own choosing. Because through a tokenized shareholding, they can access secondary markets and they can liquidate some or all of those shares in the time frame that they choose. 

Andy Pickering – Host

Yes, indeed. Okay. Well, thank you, Ian. As we come to the end of this special three-part episode series, we’ve had the Dacxi launch event, which is on YouTube, so we do suggest that you watch that if you have not already. If you have, you’re probably already very excited for what comes next. But just before we tease people with some anticipation in terms of what comes next, Ian, do you have any final thoughts or advice for people that are interested in getting involved and understanding where the trajectory of equity crowdfunding is going? Where do you think this is all heading, Ian? 

Ian Lowe – Guest

Look, a number of the people that are listening to this discussion would already be participating in equity crowdfunding or have at some point in the past, but there’s a bunch of people that also won’t have. And so what we would say to them is, look, equity crowdfunding is growing with or without Dacxi Chain, okay? It’s going through a cycle of growth. 2023 is a particularly challenging market for securing capital for any company, public or private. So 2023 we might see a flattening of the previous years, but beyond that, we can already start to see signs that the growth trajectory will continue as it has over the last couple of years. So equity crowdfunding is growing. 

But really what we’re talking about here is exponential growth over the next three or four market cycles, let’s call it, over the next three to five years, where we give equity crowdfunding, through this network effect, a seat at the table well beyond the less than 1% that it currently represents of the innovation economy. So what that really does is it shifts the balance of power away from the few that control so much of that growth capital in the form of venture capitalists and the like. And it swings that pendulum back to empower or democratize investing for the individual investor and the power and the strength of the crowd. We think that’s enormously important in terms of that imbalance that we see today, and we see a significant number of benefits. 

So to answer your question, I would encourage people to take a closer look and register on a local crowdfunding platform. We’ll be talking about who our partners are and how they can register on those platforms in great detail. So we’ll be helping people get involved, but we would encourage people to get involved, register, take a closer look, start to understand what investment opportunities actually are available to you. It’s a lot broader, it’s a lot more diverse, and a lot more exciting than a lot of people realize. And to find the right opportunity is the entry point. Find that right opportunity that you either understand or resonates for some reason with you as the entry point. And as always, with any kind of wealth building, take a medium to long-term view. That’s absolutely critical. So diversify and take that medium to long-term view. 

And the first step really needs to be something that you understand or appeals to you in some particular way. That’s the ideal way to start the journey as it relates to investing in high-growth private companies. 

Andy Pickering – Host

Yeah. Great thoughts, Ian. And look, I very much agree. I think it’s such a great point. If you can find something that is personally interesting to you and something you believe in, it just makes your conviction in whatever investment that might be much stronger. And it means that you can have the conviction to have that long-term view. And if you have a belief or a passion or an interest in whatever that particular sector or field may be, it just makes the investing ride that much more fulfilling. Great words, Ian. Thank you so much. To finish off this three-part series, anything you can tease us with in terms of that first announcement, we know it’s coming soon. 

Ian Lowe – Guest

Oh, look, it’s coming very soon. It’s only a matter of days and weeks until all of the detail will be revealed. But I also just want people to know that we’re going to step them through it, so we’re going to make it very clear how they can get involved if that’s something that they’d like to do. We’ll be sharing more detail about the specifics of that deal, and the time frame in which we expect that deal will open and then close, so all of that will be shared. There’ll be quite a bit of detail that will be forthcoming. So we’re obviously really excited about being able to do that. 

Andy Pickering – Host

Absolutely. You heard it here first, folks. So all you can do is keep it locked to the various Dacxi Chain communication channels. That brings us to the end of our special three-part series, acknowledging the launch of the first phase of the Dacxi Chain. Thanks for being here, Ian, and I’m sure we’ll see you very soon. Cheers. 

Ian Lowe – Guest

Thanks, Andy. Good to talk to you.