Baroness Michelle Mone has announced the launch of her own cryptocurrency with boyfriend and businessman Doug Barrowman, in the hope that it will "encourage more women to invest in the tech industry,” Business Insider reported.
The couple hope to raise $75 million through ICO. They plan to sell “Equi Tokens,” which are crypto tokens built to the same specifications as Ethereum (ETH/USD).
Talking to Sky News, Baroness Mone said the platform would open up venture capital to a wider audience, providing access to vetted, early-stage high-growth tech companies.
"It brings venture capital investing into the modern technology era and allows individuals to combine forces and participate in an investment sector that has only been open to high-net individuals and corporations," she said.
Equi will launch a "pre-sale" for investors willing to put in a minimum of $100,000 on March 1. A public sale, with a minimum investment ticket of $100, will start on March 8.
“If you invest in a project, we give 70% of all gains realised back to our investors in the token. The ones that just hold [the token] on the platform, we give them 5% of the profit. And then there’ll be some people that chose not to make investments but just like any other ICO, they chose to speculate on the currencies rise or fall – we hope rise,” Michelle Mone said.
The Ethereum-based Equi Tokens can be traded in the same way as other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Each Equi token is currently worth $0.50 each.