BMJ Score: 3.2
Market
Transparency
Team
Token
Adoption
Quick Summary
136 crypto investors read thisCommentary
Today, everyday life in the world revolves around smartphones. However, this mass use does not come without its concerns. As seen with the latest Facebook scandal, privacy and security over data and information remains top of mind for the majority of people. The idea of incorporating blockchain into a platform where users can securely send texts, calls, and videos as well as send and receive payments is an excellent use case. We like that VBEO has additional features like a timeline section that allows users to post photos and videos, as well as a map section to show the geolocation of every user. However, this market is incredibly saturated and the competition will be steep. It seems that VBEO’s goal of producing a fully decentralized economy might be too robust considering they are on the third iteration of their app and still only have 100 users. The token itself is purely utility and not revolutionary. While the team does have experience in entrepreneurship, ICOs, and blockchain, they are not the most transparent team we’ve seen. (Their website does not show real pictures of the team). While VBEO does address a real market concern, we are not confident that they have marketing in place to make their platform the market leader.
Investment Information:
- How to invest: To participate in the presale, register at the following link.
- Discount: 35% bonus throughout presale
- Eligibility: Restricted countries include US, Canada, China, Iran, and North Korea.
- Token Price: 1 VBEO=0.0001 ETH
- Jurisdiction: Bulgaria
Market: 3
- Problem addressed/solved: One major problem exists within many messaging applications. They are closed-source, proprietary apps which are subject to security risks, coercion, and corruption as a result of their lack of a decentralized architecture. Current leading messaging platforms have not embraced the economic gateway potential of the large user base of such platforms (like WeChat in China has) and even if they do, they all face the same issue that results from their centralized architecture. Vibeo aims to mitigate the current inherent deficiencies of instant messaging apps by building a mobile messaging application that gives access to a worldwide blockchain economy and community.
- Target customers/customer/ segments/verticals: The Vibeo platform will be a place for both consumers and merchants. Vibeo will specifically target those merchants who can offer a promising product or service that corresponds to the user base of Vibeo.
- Value creation: Vibeo wants to create communities where merchants can receive payments from users securely via the application, users can carry out financial exchanges, merchants can securely interact with customers and carry out transactions, and users and merchants can build a stronger community around the blockchain.
- Competition: Apps like Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, QQ Mobile, and others already dominate the market. They have a lion’s share of smartphone users and will likely gain more as time goes on. Vibeo will also face startup/blockchain competition as many apps like FlipnPik and ServAdvisor are trying to create an ecosystem where merchants pay to place themselves on a “map” in order to get the attention of potential customers.
- Market size/potential: The global Instant messaging market at enterprise level was valued at $6.42 billion in 2014. The consumer IM market is expected to grow at a faster rate and it is likely to reach close to $12 billion by 2019. According to Statista, the total number of monthly active users on the top ten instant messaging applications comes to 4.989 billion accounts. Obviously, the market size for social media/messaging apps is massive, which helps Vibeo, considering they will likely have difficulty acquiring market share in this very saturated space.
- Regulatory risks: One thing that really jumps out as a regulatory concern is the geotagging feature of Vibeo. How will the platform protect people’s privacy and avoid creating a space that opens up an avenue for criminal activity?
Transparency: 4.5
- Investor value: Vibeo wants to acquire as many merchants/partners as possible to display their store/service center on the API. These partners will have to purchase VBEO tokens and use them for transactions in order to stay on the platform. The VBEO token will achieve higher value based on its rate of demand stemming from the partners/merchants.
- Disclosures: Vibeo seems to understand the nature of the ICO market. Many projects have proven dishonest and untrustworthy, which is why Vibeo takes extra steps to ensure investor confidence. They explain in their FAQ section and at the top of their website why investors should trust and believe in the Vibeo project. They detail employee bios with contact information for each member so you can get in touch with the team at a moment’s notice. Lastly, the whitepaper has a jam-packed 39 pages of content with a variety of visuals.
- Token distribution: 45% available for crowdsale, 10% treasury, 10% partnerships, 10% community rewards, 10% user adoption, 8% advisors, 5% team, and 2% marketing & legal.
- Use of proceeds: 40% marketing, 35% development, 20% operations, and 5% legal.
- Caps: Soft cap: 2,000 ETH; Hard cap: 40,000 ETH
Team: 4
- Track record: The CEO, Eric Dechaux, has an incredibly decorated background. His chief experience comes from the realm of IT, and he’s used that to help startups grow and incorporate technology in major banks across Europe and North America. He also has a whopping 15,000 followers on LinkedIn. Kalin Tsekov (COO) has done extensive work with IoT and blockchain. He’s served as an ICO advisor on numerous projects, and he even ran his own project, Navigato. It’s clear that the 13-man Vibeo team has some deep entrepreneurial experience at the top of the ladder.
- Integrity: It’s refreshing to see Vibeo address uncomfortable topics right off the bat. They know that ICOs have ripped people off in the past, and they want to ensure all investors that they will not replicate those scam scenarios. Vibeo puts their money where their mouth is by providing tons of channels for contact, whether that’s employee emails, Telegram, a phone number, or mailing address.
- Eric Dechaux, Founder and CEO (LinkedIn)
- Kalin Tsekov, COO (LinkedIn)
- Angelina Borisova, CFO (LinkedIn)
- Miroslava Ivanova, CCO (LinkedIn)
- James Long, CMO (LinkedIn)
Team Members
Token Mechanics: 2.5
- MVP: Vibeo released their initial MVP in January of 2018. They have since gone through two other iterations with the most recent being v3.1, featuring video call and a geolocalized map. Their app can even be downloaded on the App Store or Google Play for free. The app will supposedly reach 100,000 users in the next month.
- Token use case: VBEO tokens are utility tokens tied to the Vibeo API. They are meant to be used by eventual partners that wish to connect/add their services into the interactive map. Partners will have to buy VBEO tokens to download and activate the API.
- Value-added: VBEO tokens don’t appear to add any real value to the Vibeo platform. For example, a wallet exists on the Vibeo app, but it’s for Ethereum. Users can pay merchants or other users with Ethereum but it appears VBEO tokens are exclusively used by partners/merchants who want to advertise their services on the interactive Vibeo map. Having said that, VBEO tokens will also be used to reward and incentivize users on the platform.
- Decentralization: Vibeo wants to create a strong community revolving around a decentralized economy using crypto to carry out secure and transparent transactions.
- Token Supply: 950 million tokens issued
User Adoption: 2
- Technical difficulty/investment expertise needed: The Vibeo website features a video with an effective, 1-minute walkthrough of the features that make Vibeo unique. It talks about the problems it solves and makes it easy to understand for even the least technologically savvy individuals.
- Halo effect: The Vibeo partnerships include Blockchain Founders Fund, Latoken, Clearify, Gotaki, and a few others. None of these partners jump off the page as they’re mostly advisory firms or fellow startups that can help boost Vibeo’s project in some way.
- Buzz: Vibeo has an online presence just two notches below the average. Their Telegram account has amassed 16,000+ members and their Twitter has just over 1,200 followers. It’s unclear why, but their Facebook link either doesn’t work or their page simply doesn’t exist, which damages their overall presence online.
