It’s been an interesting week in the tech world.

While there’s a high volume of blockchain and cryptocurrency related companies on this list, there are a few surprise entries from disparate places you wouldn’t normally think of as investment opportunities.

That’s where the surprise comes in.

Check it out.

Intellabridge Kash 2.0 launch will include substantial upgrades

Earlier this week Intellabridge Technology (KASH.C) announced their intention to launch Kash 2.0 in June of this year. This upgraded version includes full integration with Ethereum and Polygon blockchain networks. The company also intends on attracting institutional investors by developing a DeFi asset management and exchange platform under the brand KTX (Kash Treasury Exchange.)

Kash’s hybrid financial platform puts together traditional finance options (TradFi) with blockchain finance (BlockFi) infrastructure to give users access to financial services like checking accounts, investment, yield and credit options on Web3 DeFi markets.

“Our primary goal is to provide existing customers with support during this difficult transition period from the Terra blockchain to Ethereum, and we believe that going forward offering customers a more diversified product and cross-chain interoperability lowers risk and gives them access to a diversified market of Web3 financial services on multiple networks including Ethereum, Polygon, and Ripple Consensus Ledger (XRP Ledger),” said John Eagleton, CEO of Intellabridge.

Intellabridge is a fintech company getting with a digital banking solution working in a mix of traditional finance and Web3 blockchain based technologies. They give customers access to DeFi applications with cybersecurity options and customer service in tow.

The updated platform will provide support for multichain stablecions and assets including USDC, DeFi token index funds and other DeFi investment options. The company expects to roll it out by June 2022.

TENET gets Chinese insurance firm

We wrote previously in pages past about Tenet Fintech (PKK.C), laying out their business plans and game for expansion. In this case, they’re collaborating with People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC) and eHi Auto Services (eHi) to launch what they’re calling a Driver’s Seat policy. It’s the first insurance policy to be exclusively available through Tenet’s new Heartbeat insurance brokerage platform.

Policy holders can get replacement vehicles if their ride is being serviced for an extended amount of time. That’s nothing for us in Canada and the United States, but it’s trickier in China, where the service has proven difficult to implement. The vehicles will be provided by eHi’s 100,000 strong fleet of vehicles through more than 5,000 services outlets in over 400 cities.

“One of the things that attracted us to the Heartbeat platform and led us to acquire it, was the fact that we would eventually be able to use it to help design policies that would be available exclusively through the platform. Given our expanding membership and the amount of data that we collect every day on the transactions that we facilitate through our business hub, we see exceptional opportunities to design insurance policies to fit the needs of our members,” said Liang Qiu, chief executive officer of Tenet Asia.

PICC was founded by the Chinese central government in 1949, and still remains its biggest shareholder. They have over 30% of the property insurance market in China. The expansion into insurance isn’t without its perks as it opens up lots of different avenues for revenue for Tenet.

“We service industrial verticals, such as the oil and gas and the automotive sectors, that could particularly benefit from the right insurance products, which would create more synergies among our existing service offerings. This would in turn generate more opportunities for our insurance brokers and insurance company partners. Therefore we believe that the introduction of the Driver’s Seat policy is the beginning of something of great significance for the company’s operations in China,” said Qiu.

Okay.  Nothing about surprise there.

Face it. Telehealth services and the pandemic are the new normal

It’s the middle of May and the heat’s starting to ramp up. By all accounts, there should be no surprise in that we’re going to see a heavy, heady summer, complete with sweat and camping. The temperature on my phone still says twelve degrees, which isn’t exactly shorts and T-shirt weather, but these things happen fast. Any day now.

What this all means is that COVID-19 season has all but come to a close for 2022, and we’ll see another set of new variants come late-September and October. Until then, Datametrex AI (DM.V) has time to perfect its telehealth platform in expectation for the sharp spike in demand when COVID-19 season round 4 starts up again in the fall.

Right now, DM is starting to take live telehealth patient requests using Medi-Call on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, after which they’ll move onto the second rollout phase of the application launch.

“We are excited with the progress we’ve made with Medi-Call and cannot wait to begin bringing it to more patients in need of direct healthcare, both in person and through telemedicine,” said Omar Sharif, president of Medi-Call.

The app helps physicians manage their appointments while providing faster treatment and care. Digital access to healthcare is important, and is going to be far more important in the months to come, because hospital wait times are up, and more folks are turning to telehealth to get their needs met. And that, like the pandemic, isn’t going anyway anytime soon.

Soon we’re just going to have to accept that both are going to be the way things are done.

DMG makes a strategic investment in a regulated crypto industry

We’re starting to see regulations come out in the crypto and blockchain space, but they’re coming at a trickle rather than a flow. Companies like DMG Blockchain Solutions (DMGI.V) have long since recognized that they’re coming and they’re getting on the bandwagon here early.

In this case, we have DMG’s $1 million investment in the INX Digital Company, which is one of the world’s first companies to get FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) clearance for trading security tokens, and the first to execute an SEC-registered IPO for a digital security. INX launched a regulated digital asset trading ecosystem and a new tokenized economy.

INX Digital develops regulated trading platforms for digital securities and crypto. The biggest deal I can see here is that they’re on the right side of regulation and won’t necessarily have to jump through all of those hoops when the regulators get around to crack-down time. They also had their first capital raise of USD$83 million through its public INX Token offering, and they’re now working on expanding capital raising options for others.

Here’s what the ecosystem is for:

1. Listing and Trading cryptocurrencies
2. Listing and Trading private and public security tokens
3. Listing and Trading of digital asset derivatives (roadmap)

The investment here is to attract and promote institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies, and also to push the company’s Blockseer Core strategy. The notion here is that INX is a multi-billion dollar opportunity in the digital asset markets.

“DMG’s investment is a testament to our shared commitment to bridging the traditional economy with the unmatched opportunities of a decentralized crypto economy. This investment will allow the rapid growth of our unique blockchain solutions. We are working to change the paradigm through introducing new investment opportunities and capital raises for the people, by the people,” said Alan Silbert, CEO (North America) of The INX Digital Company.

Surprise! Green ammonia isn’t just for doomsday preppers

I don’t know where you might sit on the theory that we’re all living in a word dystopia, but I don’t buy it. There’s nothing going on today that we haven’t laid the groundwork for over the past few decades. Nothing. But for the doomsday prepper in your life, or maybe if you’re just looking for a green way to get some fertilizer for your garden that doesn’t involve continual trips to Greenworks, there’s Ammpower (AMMP.C).

Ammpower is a Toronto, Ontario-based clean energy company specifically focused on producing green ammonia. They have a research and manufacturing facility based in Michigan and are active in all facets of production for their product, including green fertilizers, carbon free shipping fuel, and the cracking or moving of green hydrogen as ammonia.

“The IAMM unit is something that has been missing in the agricultural world. Allowing for ammonia production, on location, providing fertilizer for dealers and growers, is something that has rarely been seen before in modern farming history. The fact that the IAMM unit also comes with carbon credits and allows farmers to take a renewable and green approach to their livelihood is the future of farming,” said Eric Kelley, Ammpower’s head of agriculture.

The production team is led by general manager Greg Barranger and chief technologist Dr. Zhenyu Zhang, and they have started patent submissions around the IAMM process for green ammonia production. This company designed a novel ammonia synthesis reactor and developed techniques to create green ammonia that’s scalable, safe and economically viable, and thereby applicable for farming, fuel and cracking of hydrogen.

They have an in-house 50 kilogram a day independent ammonia making machine (IAMM), and it’s ready to go for demonstrations. The company put together its first ammonia using this demo unit on May 16, 2022.

The tech used in this demo unit will be scaled for use in AmmPower’s four metric ton per day IAMM unit, also designed in house. The target market here is independent distributors and retailers of anhydrous ammonia used for fertilizer, and the company expects pushing these out in Q1 of 2023.

Regardless, they’re a $25 million market cap, which is dirt cheap if the tech actually works. That’s a surprise.

Mobilum Technologies and Binance come to terms

Mobilum Technologies (MBLM.C) inked a strategic services agreement with Binance, which if you’re unfamiliar is the world’s biggest exchange but also the largest blockchain ecosystem and crypto infrastructure provider.

Most of the people I know who are into crypto are on Binance. I’m not. I don’t like they do business and I’m uncomfortable giving that company any of my money. I’m decently convinced that when the sun finally does come out on Binance, we’re going to see some shady characters running for cover. But that’s just me.

The truth is there are millions of people across the globe that trust Binance. The terms of this agreement include Binance using Mobilum’s payment institution infrastructure and payment rails to provide the transactions and remittance services.

Here are some specifics:

• Acquiring payment transactions services provided by Mobilum Pay to Binance connected with processing payments via the service within the Binance platform;
• Money remittance services provided by Mobilum Pay to Binance connected with the execution of transactions.

I used Quadriga CX back in the day like many of you and while I cashed out long before Gerald Cotten had his fated trip to India, I was just as shocked as everyone when it went down. Now years later, reading his widow’s autobiography Bitcoin Widow, I’ll admit to some surprise when I discovered the fly-by-night nature of how Quadriga CX operated.

It would be something of a surprise if it came out Binance operates that way. It’s 2022 not 2016, and crypto has come a long way. What I am saying is that there’s still a lot that goes on behind the scenes that we can’t be certain. Binance has been taking great strides lately to be as transparent as possible, and that’s commendable, but they’re a global company and what happens in East Asia stays in East Asia, if you get my drift.

Regardless, this is probably a win for Mobilum.

“The Mobilum team takes great pride in providing a quality suite of services for bridging the traditional world of finance to the digital world of finance. We are delighted to work with Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange. That they have entrusted the Mobilum team to help in providing highly efficient, secure, scalable and fully-compliant payments infrastructure/rails to help with payment transactions and money remittance services, is a big accomplishment for our company and shareholders. We look forward to supporting the Binance team and a long-term bilateral partnership,” said Steven LaBella, Mobilum’s CEO.

Okay.  So in terms of surprise, a green ammonia company and a deal with Binance probably don’t rank up there with clowns and surprise nuclear war with Russia, but life is full of disappointments.  You’ll get used to it.

—Joseph Morton