The Hive platform was launched recently to deliver automated invoice finance and new liquidity to SMEs through blockchain technology. We spoke to CEO Jure Soklic at the Hive Project about the how the idea came about and what’s next for Hive.

Jure, tell us a bit about you and then starting TheHive Project

The original idea for the Hive Project was developed over two years ago, but there was always a critical piece missing. Finding a way to provide small companies with the liquidity they need was difficult because the manual work involved in conducting the process and the credit assessments required made it prohibitively expensive. However, with the advances made with blockchain technology, we can now automatize that process.

Jure, what took you into the invoice finance sector?

I have been working in international business for more than a decade and was involved with financial institutions from the old economy. I have seen problems that SMEs have with liquidity. We discussed it at length with colleagues from across the industry and formulated the concept for Hive.

How can blockchain technologies be used to address working capital challenges in SMEs?

There are numerous competitive advantages to using blockchain technology. We eliminate the risk of invoices being duplicated, which is the major problem, especially with small businesses. Since every invoice is unique and can be assessed by a credit scoring algorithm, blockchain technology provides automatization and transparency to the whole invoice financing process. In short, blockchain technology cuts costs, improves data quality, reduces manual work and eliminates errors.

What is The Hive Project?

Hive Project is the first cryptocurrency invoice financing platform focused on providing new liquidity pools for small and medium-sized businesses. Our aim is to disrupt the current invoice finance landscape by providing SMEs with access to finance  – without the need for centralized intermediaries.

Ultimately, The Hive Project’s end state will include a full marketplace with advanced trading analytics for peer-to-peer lending. This will rapidly increase the liquidity available to SMEs and create a central database of invoices available for scoring and auditing. In addition to bridging the liquidity gap for small businesses, the technology provided by The Hive Project will help credit checks made on companies and facilitate rapid and real-time auditing.

 How will The Hive Project be monetised?

 Hive will receive a small percentage from every transaction made on our platform, and in terms of contributors – ICO participants will earn from the profits generated. Participants in the Hive platform will need to use HVNs to be able to finance the invoices or obtain data. This is the commission that will be shared with the ICO participants.

What are the risks of Etherium in this space, versus traditional invoice finance, or even peer to peer invoice finance?

The risk we see is the price of GAS, but we are fully prepared with alternatives as the whole industry is. We believe that this risk is fully manageable.

 What are the early wins / successes at TheHive Project?

This past few weeks have been amazing for Hive Project. With over 800 contributors to our ICO we can already say this is a huge success and a recognition that we are on the way to revolutionizing the invoice financing industry.

More information can be found in The Hive Project whitepaper.