Richard Branson’s Family Office: Alexandre Perrin on Investment, Blockchain and how Richard came up with the name Virgin

Alexandre Perrin represents Richard Branson’s Family Office, he#nbsp;is#nbsp;responsible for the Virgin Group’s blockchain investments, and identifies other opportunities within private equity and venture capital. He#nbsp;shared his views on#nbsp;Blockchain, what are the other high potential segments, and why the company was called Virgin.

Alex’s comments come at#nbsp;a#nbsp;controversial time for blockchain, and AltaIR is#nbsp;closely watching as#nbsp;well.

In#nbsp;your view, where is#nbsp;blockchain headed and how long do#nbsp;we#nbsp;have until mass adaptation?

It’s hard to#nbsp;give a#nbsp;precise indication on#nbsp;the timeline, but I#nbsp;suppose that institutional adoption will need to#nbsp;happen first. The greatest headwind to#nbsp;institutional adoption is#nbsp;regulation, custody and responsibilities when something goes wrong (e.g. fat fingers). Another alternative would be#nbsp;that the gaming community who have always been early adopters, use it#nbsp;first. I#nbsp;would suppose this could take at#nbsp;least another 2 years.

What are, apart from blockchain the most interesting sectors that show promise?

In#nbsp;my#nbsp;opinion: the future of#nbsp;transport, artificial intelligence, genetics and personalised medicine.

What do#nbsp;you look for in#nbsp;projects when assessing them?

We#nbsp;meet the team first and foremost. We#nbsp;ask other teams and funds in#nbsp;the industry recommendations, and we#nbsp;check the community of#nbsp;developers and users (GitHub commits, Telegram group size, engagement on#nbsp;these groups etc). We#nbsp;also believe that there should be#nbsp;a#nbsp;solid investment theses that demonstrates why Blockchain should be#nbsp;used instead of#nbsp;a#nbsp;traditional database.

Has Richard ever indicated why he#nbsp;named his company Virgin?

He#nbsp;was sitting with a#nbsp;group of#nbsp;friends trying to#nbsp;come up#nbsp;with a#nbsp;name. They couldn’t find one because they were virgins in#nbsp;business. The name then stayed.

So#nbsp;far, Blockchain and crypto have showed itself to#nbsp;be#nbsp;somewhat of#nbsp;a#nbsp;challenge but one that attracts interest#nbsp;— what do#nbsp;you think needs to#nbsp;happen for it#nbsp;to#nbsp;finally become mainstream?

Institutional adoption, a#nbsp;stronger developer community, a#nbsp;stronger regulatory framework. We#nbsp;also need to#nbsp;have use cases that demonstrate that blockchain has a#nbsp;real competitive advantage over existing infrastructure.

It#nbsp;was great to#nbsp;receive industry best practices as#nbsp;well as#nbsp;to#nbsp;see what the Branson Family Office and Venture Fund is#nbsp;looking#nbsp;at. AltaIR is#nbsp;currently assessing similar segments and we#nbsp;will be#nbsp;focusing on#nbsp;high performance founders and companies in#nbsp;the future.