Scaling Artificial Intelligence: From an MVP to Reality in 2023
There are creative entrepreneurs. There are pragmatic entrepreneurs. And, of course, most entrepreneurs have a head for finance. When all three come together, then you have an entrepreneur like Paul Farhi.
Paul, 37, knew from an early stage in his life that he was not set to be an employee.
“From a young age, I was always interested in ways of making money. It both interested me and excited me in a way that nothing else did. I then had to understand and hone my skillset within industries which would allow me to flourish.”
Paul began his career in the property and fine art markets and, with the fiscal success he had, began making investments in companies and industries that piqued his interest.
One such fledgling industry was the relatively unknown cryptocurrency and blockchain space in 2015. Paul spent two years networking and researching all the aspects of how to make his mark and soon landed on the suggestion of mining the most recognised and original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC).
Bitcoin mining involves the intricate process of generating bitcoins by solving highly complex mathematical puzzles that verify transactions in the currency. When a bitcoin is successfully mined, the miner receives a predetermined amount of the cryptocurrency.
“I looked at mining Bitcoin but quickly realised that it is not a simple process and started to make connections in the market. In 2017 I was introduced to Adrian Stoica who owns Soft Galaxy International and heads up the technical side of the business.
“Adrian convinced me to look into mining a different cryptocurrency, Ethereum (ETH). We quickly joined forces and commenced a business plan to build an 8,000 square foot data centre and mine Ethereum.”
The partnership between Solidus Technologies and Soft Galaxy International thrived, yet the pair quickly identified that as Ethereum would move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, it meant that Paul could not see how to best scale Solidus Technologies.
It was time to pivot.
The pair quickly identified that as Ethereum would move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, it meant that Paul could not see how to best scale Solidus Technologies.
The pivot brought Paul to research and develop expertise into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and he soon enrolled and studied AI at the London Business School.
However, as a true entrepreneur Paul would not be satisfied with wearing one hat. With his continued keen interest in art, at the end of 2018, he founded Farhi Fine Art with an eye on digital art and how artworks continue to make an impact as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
In 2021, Paul and Adrian co-founded Solidus AI Tech as the company to house their eco-friendly 8,000-square-foot high-performance computing (HPC) Data Centre Solidus in a highly secure location in Europe. At Solidus, Paul and Adrian are launching the world’s first deflationary Artificial Intelligence token (AITECH) which will be used as a payment gateway to licence Artificial-Intelligence-as-a-Service (AIaaS), Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) and rent HPC power via their Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform.
Solidus AI Tech will also launch a marketplace for software developers to launch Artificial Intelligence software applications for their users to license, where the developers will benefit via a profit share model. AITECH is the token that powers the Solidus AI Tech ecosystem and can be used to purchase everything that is listed on the platform.
Fiat currency transactions are converted to AITECH seamlessly on the backend and are completed on the Blockchain with AITECH tokens.
“Blockchain has many advantages, and one key use is for us to have a decentralised fast and efficient payment system.”
Solidus AI Tech will also launch a marketplace for software developers to launch Artificial Intelligence software applications for their users to license, where the developers will benefit via a profit share model.
Solidus will accept traditional forms of payment such as PayPal or Credit Card and between 5%-10% of AITECH tokens used to purchase services on the platform will be burned as part of the deflationary token economy.
The platform is set to go live imminently.
Paul, as an early-stage investor himself has been successfully fundraising and to date has accumulated a total of $5,234,835.98, $1,130,926.98 has been seed, with private investments coming in at $1,587,547.00 and a Pre-Public fundraise of $2,516,362.00.
“We decided not to go straight to VCs as few investors with a large percentage of the pool can harm even the best of projects, so we decided to go to private investors initially – it was a case of ‘the more token holders we have, the better’.
“We worked hard to get everything in place before our ICO launch and then swiftly made connections and our business strategy came together mainly by focusing on what was working and obtaining feedback.”
Solidus is now set for an Initial Dex Offering (IDO) and listing in the Summer of 2023 and multiple exchanges have agreed to list our project which include: BitMart, MEXC Global, XT.com, LBank, CoinStore, as well as current in discussions with Kucoin, Gate, Huobi, Bybit and BitGet.
The timing must be right for Paul and his team. 2022 and early 2023 so the industry hit choppy waters, but there are now healthy signs for cryptocurrencies as a they are back on the steady rise, with Bitcoin surpassing $30,000 valuation in April – the first time it reached that mark for almost a year.
“This market runs in cycles where projects can do very well in a bull market and can get crushed in a bear market, so we need to be well aware of the cycles and adjust accordingly.
“We are now hopefully entering a bull market, so I think we are well placed. Combine that with all the developments in web3, and we should be timing this right. I think that companies that ignored the shift to web2 were left behind by companies that adapted. In my opinion, the same will happen with web3 so it is very important for there to be a bridge.”
2023 is set to be a big year for Paul and Solidus, yet in an entrepreneurial fashion, he has one eye on not only scaling Solidus AI but aims to grow several other startups.
“My aim is to grow Solidus Ai Tech into a highly successful organisation and also see opportunity to disrupt industry sectors using the knowledge that I have learned. Am I likely to grow another startup alongside Solidus? Undoubtedly, yes.”
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