Michelle Mone to launch new cryptocurrency with billionaire partner

Glasgow-born entrepreneur Michelle Mone and her billionaire partner Doug Barrowman are hoping to raise about £57 million through an initial coin offering (ICO) to launch a new cryptocurrency-powered investment platform.

The Tory peer and her life and business partner say the platform will be based on the Ethereum blockchain.

Baroness Mone and Mr Barrowman - who is also originally from Glasgow - have already announced a venture selling property at their $300m property development in Dubai for Bitcoin, the first development of this scale to be offered for sale in a cryptocurrency.

The ICO will see the pair sell ‘Equi tokens’ to develop the Equi Capital platform, which they say will open up venture capital to a wider audience.

Those who participate in the ICO will be provided with access to early-stage, high-growth tech companies which have been hand-selected by a team of established venture capitalists, led by Barrowman.

Investors can then use their tokens to back companies or projects, or choose to hold on to them. The public ICO will run from 8 March to 31 March 2018 with bonuses available in the first two weeks of the sale.

“EQUI will find the next generation of successful entrepreneurs and help to build the business success stories of tomorrow, primarily in the areas of technology and blockchain,” Mone said.

“EQUI will source the best investment opportunities in real world assets and champion innovators. We will support them by providing extensive business knowledge, enabling businesses to reach their full potential.

“As a successful entrepreneur myself, I know how important it is to have access to the right resources. Great entrepreneurs can build great companies when they have access to the platform. This is what excites me about EQUI. Together, we can make a real difference.”

Mr Barrowman added: “EQUI brings venture capital investing into the modern technological era and opens the investment playing-field up to non-industry professionals, enabling them to back the next hot investment that is traditionally the preserve of institutions and ultra-high net worth individuals.

“We have strong access to deal flow and the investment market generally and will be bringing our experience to the wider market. Once in a generation a new way of thinking disrupts the workings of an established industry. EQUI is that disruptor in venture capital investing and, for me, represents the final evolution of a lifetime’s work spent in the industry.”