CEO Anthony Begando

NASHVILLE- and Tampa-based Professional Credentials Exchange (ProCredEx) is raising $3MM Seed capital in the form of a convertible note for its blockchain- and AI-enabled infrastructure that facilitates the secure exchange of verified professional credentials information among members of the exchange.

Co-founder and CEO Anthony Begando told Venture Nashville the startup was conceived in 2017 and launched earlier this year in partnership with Nashville-based Hashed Health. Hashed Health owns 50% of the company, with Begando holding most of the balance of equity.

The CEO said ProCredEx has mapped a Series A of undisclosed magnitude, which could be completed within 18 months. Decisions regarding letter-round raises beyond that will be made based on experience onboarding ProCredEx commercial customers.

Begando was quick to note that there is widespread interest in blockchain- and AI-related ventures, and the company is determined to accept investment only from value-adding investors with healthcare, technology and-or related track records.

The CEO credited the Hashed Health team and their individual and collective healthcare networks, as well as the growing prominence of the Hashed Health brand in accelerating the development of the company and facilitating secure pilot partners.

Then, too, Begando said that in addition to his nearly two decades in credentialing-related businesses, his earlier assembly of a tight-knit team of collaborating ProCredEx technologists, centered in New England, was key in enabling the company to move swiftly into pilots with major prospective customers.

He said the company looks to enlist perhaps two-dozen pilot partners.

Last week, it announced that five companies with verified credential datasets and implementation capabilities for deployment and scaling of the ProCredEx offering had joined the program: National Government Services, Spectrum Health, WellCare Health Plans (NYSE: WCG), Accenture (NYSE: ACN), and The Hardenbergh Group.

Asked about access to advisors, Begando said that while he personally leads capital raises, Hashed Health Chief Development Officer Les Wilkinson was previously a managing director of Martin Ventures, an investor in Hashed Health, and has been very helpful.

His outside advisors currently include Hunter Law (Tampa) and Inflammo (Nashville), and the firm banks with BB&T. (VNC reported in 2017 that Hashed Health legal advisors included Bass Berry & Sims and Crowell Moring.)

Begando said his introduction to Hashed Health resulted from his having attended the 2017 Distributed Health Conference, a distributed-ledger-oriented event each year in Nashville. There, he met, among others, John Soto M.D., chief medical officer for Intel Health & Life Sciences, who had written a whitepaper that had deeply impressed Begando with the potential for distributed ledger to help reduce credentials-related costs in healthcare and other sectors in which professional credentials play crucial roles, such as aviation.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Begando earned his bachelor's in computer information systems at Redlands (Calif.) University, before beginning his career in credentialing, staffing, business process, healthcare and other fields

During frequent visits to Nashville, Tampa-based Begando, 51, operates from Hashed Health, which quarters at WeWork in East Nashville. VNC

. last edited 0934 13 Nov 2018