Keiji Sakai will take care of startups he invests in. Photo: Shuttersnap
Keiji Sakai, a reference in the blockchain world and who for three years was director of R3 in Brazil, left the company. R3 is the developer of Corda, distributed registration (DLT) software. Sought, R3 did not say who will replace Sakai and if there is a restructuring of the company in the country.
The executive, who has had a long career in the technology area at financial institutions, will dedicate himself to startups in which he is an investor. R3 started in 2014 as a consortium of over 60 banks trying to understand if and how they could use DLT. In particular to resolve the issue of lack of trust in transactions between financial institutions.
The idea was to try something less centralized and used by multiple members. That’s how Corda was born, with a lot of focus on the financial sector. But the consortium that became a company is also seeking to grow in other areas.
In Brazil, R3 has projects with the Brazilian stock exchange, B3, for example. And it has a partnership with Fohat, an energy solutions startup. Another example is Gavea, a startup that set up a digital commodities exchange.
At R3, Keiji Sakai was one of the professionals who started the “evangelization” about the use of technology in companies, explaining what it was, applications and benefits. As R3 is in projects on digital currencies of central banks (CBDCs), it started to do the same to explain what could be the digital real. Theme that BC studies.
As he told Blocknews, the startups he invests in are not on blockchain. One of them is Digitalk, an omnichannel Customer Experience Management (GEC, or CXM) platform with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Thus, it integrates digital and analog channels throughout the user relationship journey. Therefore, a person can, for example, start a purchase on the website and end up in the chatbox or in the physical store.
Another is RKSAM, a home-office solution with data analysis (analytics). According to Sakai, companies adopt the solution to gain productivity and adhere to the General Data Protection Law LGPD). And there is also Carambola, “which is spectacular. The startup aims to train and employ IT developers, while promoting diversity and inclusion of minorities. Among Carambola’s clients are Itaú and Ambev. And I’m drawing more stuff,” he told Blocknews.