Insights Network

Insights.Network is entering the market of data brokerage. The segment where Insights.Network will operate is consumer data brokerage. As of 2017, data brokerage is a 200B USD industry, according to Webpagefx. According to estimates presented by the TMR report, the global data brokers market will clock an 11.5% CAGR for the forecast period between 2017 and 2026.. In terms of data category, the demand for consumer data is estimated to contribute more than one-third revenue share of the overall market by the end of 2026. The main concern for the consumer data market growth is the risk of compromising Vital Consumer Data. The largest players of this segment are Acxiom, Nielsen, and Experian which cover more than a half of the American consumer data market.

Now the product is on a concept stage of development, the demo video is available on the website. The Alpha version of Insights Network platform (with running implementations of SMC and Blockchain) planned to launch in Q1 2018. Insights Network aims to create a platform for users to share their personal data with companies for money. The payments on the platform will be made in company-issued INSTAR tokens, based initially on ERC-20 and then converted into EOS Blockchain-based tokens. INSTAR aims to get its platform into full operation by Q1 2019. Recently, INSTAR came into agreement with Quantstamp. It is worth noticing that the issued ERC-20 tokens will be later replaced by EOS tokens. However, the EOS Blockchain has not been itself launched. The popularity of the platform will heavily depend on the network effect i.e. how many people will register on Insights Network. The given roadmap is not enough detailed and only highlights some of the product development stages.

The Insights Network is a platform that facilitates transactions between two distinct groups: requesters and providers. Requesters need information from providers and are willing to pay to get it. This dynamic is known as a two-sided marketplace. Two-sided marketplaces are notoriously difficult to start up. The primary reason for a requester to place a request on the Insights Network is that it has providers who will fulfill it. At the same time, the primary reason for providers to join the Insights Network is that there are enough requests placed in order to make money. At the beginning, there are not enough of either group on the platform to attract the other. There is no information on how INSTAR will earn its money i.e. fee levels,, so the commercial viability of the platform is not clear.

The minimum contribution during ICO is 0.1 ETH (~190 USD as of 31.01.18). As the company will issue 300M INSTAR tokens and aims to raise 22K ETH, the company post-money valuation is about 24M USD. This figure is way above the post-money valuation of comparable startups on the US market, according to Pitchbook. INSTAR will spend 50% of the funds on development, 25% on operations, 15% on marketing, and 10% on legal. The Use of Funds is not given in a detailed way and there is no financial plan for anticipated expenditures. 30% of tokens will not be available for sale and will be kept by team. There is no information about vesting scheme for the team reserves.

Overall, Insights.Network team has good experience among the main areas of the product development. 2 out of 3 co-founders worked before together at Underground Cellar and finished Y-combinator acceleration program in 2015. The project CTO has extensive development experience; he graduated from Stanford University in Computer Science and worked for Fortify Software, a start-up that was acquired in 2010 by HP, and then he himself founded Wink Health project. Also, there are other strong technical specialists in the team who graduated with PhD in Computer Science from top US schools and worked in various startups as technical leads before. However, the team is spread around the globe. According to Linkedin, the employees are located in San Francisco, Chicago, and Copenhagen.