A startup developing an electronic voting platform based on biometrics and blockchain has received some considerable backing in venture capital. Boston-based Voatz has announced that it has raised $2.2 million in seed funding from an investment round led by Medici Ventures with contributions from Oakhouse Partners and the Urban Innovation Fund.
The Voatz platform is designed to let citizens cast their ballots using a smartphone or tablet. Crucially, it uses blockchain accounting to ensure accurate record keeping and auditing, and the biometric sensors that are increasingly common on mobile devices to ensure that voters are reliably authenticated. According to a statement from Voatz, the platform has already been used by “[s]everal leading universities, labor unions, state political parties, church groups and non-profits”, and is currently being deployed for “town meeting voting in Massachusetts.”
As for the new venture capital, Voatz says it will use the funding “to build out its business development team, expand its reach across the United States and accelerate the development of several exciting new product features.”
With biometrics increasingly being used in large-scale elections around the world, and blockchain increasingly being put forward as a game-changing accounting mechanism, Voatz may be able to capitalize on exciting new trends as it seeks to further establish its platform. It has certainly caught the attention of some serious backers with its seed funding round, and that could point the way to more excitement in the future.
(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)
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