Update - Shivom ICO Review

(I am not a financial advisor. This is not financial advice and is my opinion only. Please DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!)

Shivom is creating a medical genomics ecosystem on the blockchain and will offer an open web marketplace for other healthcare providers to add their apps and services alongside genomic data analytics and personalised medicine.

Problem
• Genome sequencing had been previously expensive but costs are drastically reducing making sequencing more readily available.
• With increase in donors there are issues around data ownership, data sharing and data integrity.
• Genomic sequencing providers often sell genomic data for their own profit whilst donors aren’t compensated in any way.

Solution
• Easy access at an affordable price for donors to have their genome sequenced and stored.
• Blockchain addresses trust issues such as patient consent, unclear data ownership, data integrity and user authentication.
• Enables complex data rights management and fine grained access using smart contracts.

Current State of Product
The team assure me they have built a product, which is ready for release. I have been provided screenshots of their platform however have not seen the working product itself. The product thus far apparently allows for uploading of a DNA profile and storing onto IPFS as well as filtering of datasets and other functionality (which isn’t specified).

Team
Co-Founder & CEO – Dr Axel Schumacher
Axel has vast experience in this field, which includes writing the ‘Blockchain and Healthcare Strategy Guide’. He has a Ph.D. in Human Genetics and is a member of the Blockchain Research Institute.

Co-Founder & COO – Gourish Singla
Gourish has a background in investment banking and has founded his own chemicals company as well as another 3 in the digital health space. Her areas of expertise are blockchain, AI, machine learning and robotics.

Co-Founder & CMO - Sally Eaves
Sally has held positions as a Chief Technology Officer, Practising Professor of FinTech and Global Strategic Advisor. She has consistently been rated in the top 10 for blockchain and social media influence worldwide.

Co-Founder & CSO – Per Lind
Per is the Co-Founder of IOTA Foundation and specialises in engaging social marketing.

Co-Founder & CTO – Akash Gaurav
Akash is a blockchain entrepreneur and founded India’s first blockchain company, Auxesis Group. Auxesis Group is considered amongst the Top 100 Most Influential Blockchain Companies in the world.

Co-Founder & Chief Technology Advisor
Kumar is the founder of Cashaa, a blockchain based payment and banking startup and the Chairman of Auxesis Group.

Chief Scientific Officer – Dr Natalie Pankova
Natalie has been the Director of 2 early stage health-tech companies. She holds a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Her research focus was on ophthalmology, inflammatory diseases, diagnostics and personalised medicine.

Overall the team looks very good with recent and relevant experience in the genome sequencing / medical industry and blockchain development. Most however are currently working on at least one other project each.

Community
Telegram 69,400 members
Medium 147 followers
Facebook 2,492 followers
Twitter 46,000 followers

Token Metrics
Softcap: 15,000 ETH
Hardcap: 75,000 ETH
Price: 7,000 OMX / ETH
Pre-sale: 16th April – 22nd April (pre-sale terms not yet officially released)
Public sale: Not officially released

Token distribution
• 3 billion tokens to be distributed
• 90M OmiX to the community
• 420M OmiX to founders
• 300M OmiX to advisors
• 600M OmiX for Incentivizing Growth Pool
• 600M OmiX to Company Reserve

***** Number of OmiX tokens at ICO not stated however appears to be 990M *****

*** Founder and advisor tokens are locked for between 18 months and 3 years dependant upon their involvement in the project and stage of entry into the company. ***

ICO funds distribution nominated as being:
• 20% - platform development
• 11% - operations and business development
• 10% - non profit R&D
• 21% - partnerships and marketing
• 5% - legal
• 2% - proof of concept
• 6% - data storage
• 25% - laboratories

The OmiX token enables buying, trading, incentivizing and other services. The token is the fuel of the Shivom ecosystem, as well as part of the governance of the system. Tokens offer the following:
• Ability to acquire premium services in the Shivom ecosystem
• Ability to acquire genome sequencing kits
• Ability to sponsor sequencing projects
• Ability to acquire access to health/fitness apps from 3rd party providers
• Ability to access the genome database
• Ability to pay donors for data/participation in research studies
• Ability for service providers to use the platform

Things I Like
• A potentially large market given world population however I’m not sure that too many care enough about genome sequencing for this market size to be realised. The team are however aware of this and research shows one of the biggest barriers for people when considering genomic testing is the security of their data. The blockchain solution offered by Shivom should resolve this problem.
• Recent partnership announced with Genetic Technologies Ltd (GTG), which is a publicly listed Australian company providing a clinically validated risk assessment test for non-hereditary breast cancer. This partnership provides Shivom with access to GTG’s accredited laboratory in Victoria, Australia. GTG will also become part of Shivom’s global genetic counselling network and obtain access to Shivom’s pool of genomic data. This also extends to GTG accredited facilities in the US.
• Recent MoU signed with the Government of Andhra Pradesh, which ‘explores the possibility of providing diagnostic services to patients of Andhra Pradesh by maintaining the privacy of the individual data through blockchain technologies’. It will also focus on shifting from using genomic data for research to using this data for predictive healthcare in a preventative approach. A part of this deal gives Shivom access to conduct pilot testing in the Andhra Pradesh cancer research centre working direct with government.
 
• A partnership with DeHedge in which Shivom will be the first token offered as a hedged token on their platform. This protects contributors (to some degree) from volatility and risk. The DeHedge team also stringently vet projects before accepting them onto their platform so this also offers some degree of certainty and trust in the Shivom project.
• Strategic technical partnerships with Ocean Protocol and Spherity Protocol.

Things I Don’t Like
• The majority of team members have at least one other project running concurrent to Shivom. Per Lind is particularly concerning with his LinkedIn profile listing involvement in a further 10 projects (including IOTA) from co-founder to partner, VP and director of these other organisations.
• 990M tokens available for ICO yet 600M are allocated for ‘incentives’ and another 600M for ‘company reserves’. In my opinion these numbers seem too high and I feel the incentives (bounty programs mentioned) will dilute the value of the tokens sold during ICO.

Will I Be Contributing?
I reviewed Shivom a few months ago when they were in their early stages. At that time I declared I wouldn’t be contributing to this ICO however qualified that if further information became available I would reconsider.

I have now received further information from the Shivom team and after considering it in totality have still decided not to contribute. This does not mean Shivom is a bad project; in fact I believe they have a lot going for them. The team is very strong, token metrics are good, there is a clear use case for the blockchain and recently released partnership announcements appear very promising. The only reasons I’m not contributing are due to the current market conditions and the fact that I haven’t seen a working product as such; in this market I am not contributing to any projects without a prototype at the very least.

To finish off, I’d like to say that the Shivom Project has come a long way since my initial review. I am impressed to say the least and if it weren’t for current market conditions and an MVP were officially released I would definitely contribute.