China's Fosun Group Buys Stake in Blockchain Startup

One of China's biggest corporate investors has bought a stake in a blockchain startup.

Reuters

reports that Fosun Group is investing in Shanghai Distributed Technologies Co Ltd, the company behind the Onchain blockchain project.

Founded in the 1990s, Fosun has become a major force in China's finance space. Among its listed investments include stakes in Cirque du Soleil and Club Med. Fosun also has operations in the mining, insurance and technology sectors, among others.

It's not immediately clear how much of a stake was purchased, but according to the report, the amount is worth "tens of millions of yuan" per a Fosun official. The conglomerate is the sole investor in this particular funding round.

Onchain, a start-up that utilizes an open-source distributed network architecture (DNA), previously developed the public blockchain network NEO. Formerly known as Antshares, NEO raised more than more than $4.5 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) last fall.

The startup is aiming to create a "universal platform" built on the tech. In recent months, it has inked several key partnerships, including an email storage concept with e-commerce giant Alibaba and an identity initiative with the city government of Guiyang.

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