HTC Leads $3 Million Round for Digital Property Rights Startup Bitmark

Big names are investing in Bitmark, the blockchain property rights startup.

Consumer electronics giant HTC led the $3 million Series A, which also saw participation from e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba and investment firms WI Harper and Digital Currency Group.

The funding, announced Tuesday, will boost the company's sales and marketing efforts.

Since launching in 2016, Bitmark claims to have registered over 1 million digital properties.

"Bitmark's system for digital property rights greatly expands the promise of blockchain technology by assigning unique ownership for digital assets of all types," said Phil Chen, HTC's "Decentralized Chief Officer."

Properties and data registered on Bitmark's proof-of-work blockchain are tied to digital assets called "Bitmark certificates," which can be traded, loaned and sold.

In 2018, the firm partnered with KKFARM, an investment firm focused on the music industry, on a royalties service to make rights "Transparent, tradable, and economically divisible for musicians."

In 2017, the firm partnered with UC Berkeley to crowdsource health data, while meeting the regulatory requirements of HIPAA and IRB for patient privacy.

That same year, Bitmark raised $1.7 million in seed financing led by venture capital firm Cherubic Ventures.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Bitmark.