Grand Shores Global Blockchain Ten-Billion Innovation Fund ( Grand Shores), a new investment firm founded two months ago by a Chinese entrepreneur and an ex-Alibaba employee, said it is investing tens of millions of U.S. dollars in a blockchain-based ride hailing project called Chexianglian, according to Chinese media reports.
Grand Shores was founded two months ago by Yao Yongjie, an early investor in Chinese Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer Canaan Creative. Li Xiaolai, an investor in EOS, is also backing the fund.
The fund claims to have secured 30% of its RMB10 billion (US$1.5 billion) fundraising target from a government guidance fund from the Hangzhou Government.
There is no public information available on Chexianglian. But according to Chinese media reports, it will be very similar to the Car Sharing Chain, announced a few days ago by Kuaidi Dache founder, Chen Weixing. Car Sharing Chain utilizes blockchain technology to let drivers and riders control the ride hailing platform, rather than the current mobile apps that operates as a centralized aggregation platform of demand and supply.
Yao claims in a Wechat post that the Chexianglian team will have over 60 people and will have over 10,000 cars on the road.
Increasingly, projects are targeting the mobility and transportation sector for blockchain technology application. It is also reported recently that China’s bike-sharing firm ofo launched a function in Singapore to use token incentives to encourage users to use ofo bikes.
