Q&A with Claudiu Minea, Cofounder and CEO of SeedOn

SeedOn, a blockchain-based crowdfunding platform, facilitates project funding through its Smart Contract Escrow Model, where funds are put in a joint escrow account, only being released in stages once the requirements are completed by the project.

Entrepreneurs can access their funds according to the stage the project is currently in, circumventing loss induced by fraudulent crowdfunding efforts. 

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Invezz talks to the platform’s CEO and cofounder, Claudiu Minea.

1. Broadly speaking, what are the main pain points SeedOn is going to solve?

Throughout time we’ve noticed a few recurring issues within the crowdfunding sector. Issues such as intellectual property protection, lack of transaction transparency and traceability, lack of accountability, unrealistic valuation, and most importantly investments risk and fraud, are oftentimes slowly addressed by crowdfunding platforms, remaining as the major pain points for both investors and entrepreneurs.

One of SeedOn’s main objectives is to solve these recurrent issues. We will be minimizing investment risks and reducing fraud by making use of our smart contract escrow model. We’ll have a stage-based capital infusion for startups, thus entrepreneurs will have access to limited funds allocated to the current stage, depending on the stage they’re in and the completion rate of the milestones set.

Registering to the SeedOn platform will involve signing an NDA as well, thus ensuring that any information or sensitive data leak may have legal consequences applied. Our platform is using BSC (Binance Smart Chain) to make use of its Consensus mechanism and facilitate fast, safe and secure transactions, visible to network users at all times.

Moreover, we will also include investments using cryptocurrency and a structured channel for post-raise communication. Investors using our platform have the option to use our SEON token to invest in a startup or receive their rewards, having the possibility to acquire our token from the SeedOn platform using fiat currency as well. In regards to the structured post-raise communication channel, we believe that investors should be informed at all times about a startup’s progress.

This is a highly important aspect that is often overlooked by startups being funded through conventional crowdfunding platforms. Through SeedOn, entrepreneurs will be required to schedule company update meetings to keep investors informed and up to date with their progress. The occurrence of those meetings will be defined in relation to the implementation stage’s length.

2. How does SeedOn screen projects and their founders?

Well, we begin the screening process starting from project submission. In order to submit a new crowdfunding project, all entrepreneurs will have to go through registration, KYC, and screening process, then proceed with the background check.

It will first be conducted by an AI algorithm, checking for copyright violations, and ultimately having a team of financial experts and business consultants manually check the details found.  

All submitted listing requests for startups on SeedOn will be reviewed by a team of business consultants, where continuous feedback will be provided to entrepreneurs until all details meet our platform’s guidelines and requirements. This will ensure that the information presented is detailed enough so that investors understand the business’s purpose and can make a well-informed decision.

3. Are copyright protection and intellectual property rights a problem with crowdfunding?

Yes, unfortunately, we’ve noticed that entrepreneurs do not benefit from copyright protection and intellectual property rights in a proper manner when it comes to the crowdfunding sector.

That is why this is one of the main pain points SeedOn will be addressing: by gating all project details with an authentication mechanism so that only registered investors (who have signed an NDA at the time of registering), will have access to the startup’s full project details. Unregistered users will be able to see a public brief description of the project, highlighting the main features without exposing detailed characteristics and implementation stages.

4. What will lead people to choose SeedOn as a crowdfunding platform, do you think?

As part of SeedOn, we wish to create real-life applicability and use cases for blockchain technology, not having it limited to the crypto space only. This technology holds significant potential to revolutionize crowdfunding as we know it today.

Our goal is to build a platform that addresses issues posed by conventional crowdfunding platforms that are not being addressed, thus having people naturally choose a platform that would be solving these problems. This is a crucial aspect, as we aren’t too early in the market, to have to educate users on what we try to achieve, nor too late, to have this market already saturated.

The crowdfunding industry has been around for about two decades and is still one of the most popular ways to raise funds. Surely enough, crowdfunding projects have, throughout time, raised a few problems and exposed a few needs among their backers. Therefore, building a platform with a solid ground around these issues and needs will definitely contribute to SeedOn’s success.

Moreover, SeedOn will continuously address any new issues according to the market needs, as our team of experts will pay close attention to the user’s needs and potential new concerns that may affect the crowdfunding sector. More so, when it comes to our platform’s and application’s user and customer experience, we’ll have a Research & Development (R&D) department that will constantly keep our application up to date.

5. Who are SeedOn’s main competitors?

It depends on the angle you’re looking from. At the moment there aren’t any crowdfunding platforms currently using blockchain. However, until other such platforms arise, our competitors are the popular conventional crowdfunding platforms.

6. What advantages does SeedOn have over them?

Aside from addressing the current pain points in the crowdfunding market, our advantage would be to use blockchain technology outside the crypto space and apply it in the crowdfunding sector. Thus, all transactions will be transparent and traceable to all users, providing a trusting environment for both investors and entrepreneurs. SeedOn will play a major role in significantly reducing fraud and investment risks, working towards revolutionizing conventional crowdfunding.