BMJ Score: 3.4
Market
Transparency
Team
Token
Adoption
Quick Summary
210 crypto investors read thisCommentary
Stem cells are capable of providing countless applications for use in the treatment of diseases including Alzheimer’s, blindness, deafness, diabetes, and multiple forms of cancer. While the stem cell market is projected to reach $297 billion by 2022, the industry suffers from poor access to treatment options, limited communication between professionals and medical experts, poor international collaboration, and high costs of treatment. SCIA wants to bridge the gap between accessing and understanding stem cell research and development internationally while creating a collaborative and effective network of key players in the industry. Their platform will help provide a safe storage for users’ medical data and give users control over their stem cell records. From a technical perspective, we like that SCIA plans to leverage two blockchains built on very strong foundations. One will be built on ETH to power their token, and the second will be built on the Hyperledger Fabric Network and utilize smart contracts to protect sensitive data. While there is no working MVP, the team is strong and has impressive partnerships with industry experts in pharma and stem cell research. While many competitors are trying to use blockchain to solve problems in the medical space, SCIA’s experience makes them uniquely positioned to act as the lead for stem cell services. We are excited to see what this talented team can do to help transform the stem cell market! While their whitepaper is impressive, we would like to see additional updates on their roadmap, as well as more press and marketing to help ensure the success of their platform.
Investment Information:
- How to invest: The exact procedure to buy SCI tokens is available on the website (ico.scia.io) and on their social media channels.
- Discount: Day 1–7 60%; Day 8–15 55%; Day 16–35 50%; Day 36–43 45%
- Eligibility: Excluded/restricted jurisdictions include the US, People’s Republic of China (except Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), Cuba, Iran, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Syria, and Crimea Region.
- Token Price: $0.15 = 1 SCI
- Jurisdiction: Gibraltar
- Payment methods accepted: BTC, ETH, LTC, fiat
- Minimum purchase Pre-Sale: $5,000 USD
Market: 3
- Problem addressed/solved: A few of the most prominent problems that SCIA addresses include lack of access to quality treatment options for patients with a variety of medical conditions; lack of communication between professionals and medical experts who could treat patients with stem cell therapies; limited access to, and sharing of, information related to stem cell research; difficult international collaboration and payment for therapies related to stem cell treatments; limited number of stem cell banks around the world, which makes storing and accessing stem cells difficult.
- Target customers/customer/ segments/verticals: The target market for SCIA is stem cell patients and the medical institutions that conduct the research or operations for stem cell projects.
- Value creation: SCIA’s ultimate goal is to connect people who need treatment with a dedicated team of professionals who can provide personalized solutions based on patient factors and demographics collected in their dual blockchain-supported platform.
- Competition: Other blockchain projects want to implement their solutions for general healthcare services, but not specifically for stem cell patients. SCIA might be the first project of its kind. It’s attacking a very niche market and many teams simply don’t have the knowledge or background in stem cell to carry out a project like this. SCIA won’t encounter heavy competition anytime soon.
- Market size/potential: The stem cell market is niche but certainly emerging. Having said that, it exists outside the US for the most part, and the majority of people have either never heard of it or only have a vague understanding of stem cell.
- Regulatory risks: HIPAA compliance is imperative; the application and website will need to be in full compliance. There are also stringent government regulations on stem cell use. Furthermore, SCIA is subject to international laws and regulations around digital currencies. SCIA is working on a complex software platform and could be delayed, given technical barriers.
Transparency: 3
- Investor value: SCIA believes that their token model supports security and exclusivity, which will inherently drive the value of the token as more users demand access to the platform. That said, it’ll difficult for them to gain traction, especially early on, as most people don’t have stem cell medical records or even need to utilize such a platform due to restrictions on stem cell operations.
- Disclosures: SCIA has an incredibly detailed roadmap and well-organized whitepaper. They’d receive a much higher mark in this category if their Token Agreement, Disclosure Document, and FAQ Doc were also available. SCIA states that those documents will be available soon, hopefully prior to the commencement of the token sale.
- Caps: Soft cap: $3 million USD; Hard cap: $36 million USD
- Token distribution: SCIA isn’t too clear on how tokens will be distributed, but we do know that 240 million out of the total 800 million tokens will be available during the ICO. Other tokens will likely be put in a reserve.
- Use of proceeds: 25% IT development and R&D, 20% marketing and sales, 19% team & advisors, 15% international expansion and partnerships of stem cell labs, 10% infrastructure and project management, 6% lobbying stem cell US FDA, and 5% legal.
Team: 4.5
- Track record: SCIA goes beyond the call of duty when presenting their all-star team to the world, which makes sense considering so many of the members have strong professional backgrounds. Moe Galal (CEO) and Ben Barel (COO) each have over 20 years of experience in their fields. Moe has more than 20 years’ experience as an entrepreneur along with a strong belief in stem cell innovation as the future of medical care. Ben’s career revolved around overseeing corporate operations, human resources, and compliance reporting in a variety of settings. Additionally, nearly all team members boast 500+ connections on LinkedIn, with Moe Galal having over 7,000.
- Integrity: The SCIA whitepaper leaves little to the imagination in terms of the qualifications and backgrounds of the team, which bodes well for their commitment to transparency. Based on their LinkedIn profiles and information provided by the SCIA whitepaper, it’s safe to assume that the SCIA team holds a certain degree of integrity within the company culture.
- Moe Galal, Chief Executive Officer / Founder (LinkedIn)
- Ben Barel, Chief Operations Officer / Co-Founder (LinkedIn)
- Ali Alrashidi, Chief Technology Officer / Co-Founder (LinkedIn)
Team Members
Token Mechanics: 3.5
- MVP: Demo testing for SCI Application v1.0 will not start until Q2 of 2019. It appears that SCIA will wait on ICO funds to start developing the application.
- Token use case: The Stem Cell Innovations token will be implemented as an ERC-20 token over the Ethereum public blockchain. The token will primarily be used within the SCI ecosystem as a method for users to access the full range of SCI products and services. The primary use case for the token will be the purchase of products and services through the SCI ecosystem. The token will be the exclusive means of purchasing within the ecosystem.
- Value-added: Use of the SCI token will eliminate payment inefficiencies and allow SCI to provide access to cutting-edge stem cell technology for users within the ecosystem. Given the self-contained nature of the ecosystem, a token-based model for product usage will support security and exclusivity of access for SCIApplication token holders, which will, in turn, drives the fundamental value of the token.
- Decentralization: The ultimate goal of the SCIApplication is to give users control over their own stem cell data while storing and processing that data in a decentralized way to ensure data integrity and security. In this case, decentralization means removing barriers to access for patients in need of stem cell treatment and putting the control of information and access in the hands of those that need it most.
- Token Supply: SCI will mint a total of 800 million tokens.
User Adoption: 2.5
- Technical difficulty/investment expertise needed: Stem cell research is a rarely discussed topic due to the controversy over the legality of the treatment in the United States. SCIA wants to change that and provide everyone in the world the ability to connect with a Stem Cell Specialist instantly through their application. On a broad basis, people first must learn what stem cell is prior to understanding the SCIA project.
- Halo effect: The SCIA partnerships revolve around pharmacies and stem cell science innovators. They might want to expand to blockchain/ICO advisory firms as well in order to form a better network, but acquiring partners who have immense knowledge and data from the field of stem cells works as a great starting block.
- Buzz: SCIA has over 6,000 Facebook followers… but that’s about their only positive online buzz attribute. Their Telegram (2,600) and Twitter (214) accounts have far less traction. Having said that, their YouTube video, “Introducing Stem Cell Innovations”, has over 7.2k views.
