Sex industry blockchain startup intimate raises $4.5 million in pre-sale ahead of full ICO next month

An Aussie blockchain startup focused on solving issues inherent in the adult industry has raised $4.5 million in a token pre-sale and is gearing up for a further $24 million raise in March.

The startup, intimate, was launched last year by founding trio Reuben Coppa, Leah Callon-Butler and Nathan Smale, who formed the idea of a cryptocurrency and blockchain platform to not only make payments in the adult industry easier but also introduce a verifiable and immutable trust and reputation system.

As such, intimate was born from a fusion of two industries commonly eschewed by the banks: cryptocurrency and sex work.

Four years ago Coppa established some of Australia’s first Bitcoin ATMs through his company EI8.HT, which also operated as a blockchain consultancy firm. But a lack of interest in cryptocurrency at the time lead Coppa to look into other businesses, one of which was Rendevu, an on-demand platform for adult services providers such as escorts.

While both of Coppa’s businesses were perfectly legal, standard business banking relationships were closed to him on both fronts. It was at this point he began to realise the decentralised nature of cryptocurrency could solve some of the issues in the sex industry.

But still, the interest for cryptocurrency wasn’t there, until around six months ago. Speaking to StartupSmart, intimate co-founder Nathan Smale says that was the catalyst needed to be to “use the tech we’d known about for five years to solve the problem that had been evident for the last two”. Read more

Dominic Powell - Smart Company - 12 Feb 2018