Product Information

Based out of Switzerland, Smart Containers aims to combine Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and blockchain to rent out airfreight containers used for food and medicine transportation that also track temperatures on the blockchain throughout the shipping process.

Maintaining the right temperature for things like food and medicine is crucial to protect against degradation of product. The integrated IoT sensors will also allow the smart containers to know who’s renting them, when the contract ends, and when to invoice a customer.

Smart Containers already is #4 in the business to business (b2b) global pharmaceutical transportation market with its product, SkyCell. The company has plans to introduce SkyCell in the consumer market as well, which is much bigger than the b2b market.

The company claims to have close to 100 patents, be 75% more reliable than the current market leader thanks to a less than 0.1% temperature deviation, and have the largest amount of blockchain-based IoT sensors in all of airfreight.

By building LOGI CHAIN, Smart Containers is building a mostly free, open platform for logistics companies and users, such as airlines, customs brokers, sea freight companies, and so on. LOGI CHAIN will provide additional services like payment and insurance through its partners, all paid for using LOGI. The smart containers will be completely autonomous, allowing for truly paperless logistics. Billing will be automated throughout the supply chain and through the use of cryptocurrency, transaction fees will be significantly lower.

Smart Containers has also entered the food transportation market recently through FoodGuardians, which is launching in Europe in 2018.

Token

SMARC tokens will be used for profit sharing in the proceeds of SkyCell and FoodGuardians. 20% of Smart Containers’ future dividends as well as potential exit profits from its subdivisions like SkyCell will be paid out to SMARC holders proportionally in ETH according to the number of SMARC tokens in circulation.

LOGI is the utility token for LOGI CHAIN and will be used by parties in the ecosystem to pay for transactions.

There is a total of 150 million SMARC and 100 million LOGI.

Smart Containers is selling two tokens to raise a total of $40m.

120 million SMARC / 150 million SMARC will be offered in the ICO – pre-sale, private, and public phases ($36m). The remaining 30 million will be used to cover ICO costs and align interests of the management team.

Pre-sale was at the end of May and open to invited individuals and organizations. 49.3m tokens (41% of ICO amount and valued at $16m) were sold in the private, invitation-only pre-sale. Participants in the pre-sale bought SMARC at a 25% discount while those in the crowd sale can buy tokens at a 15%, 10%, and 5% discount (first third, second third, and final third of participants respectively). 12.8m tokens (10.66% of ICO amount valued at $5m) are available during the public token sale.

57.9m tokens, or nearly half the tokens for sale valued at $15m/$36m total, are offered in a private sale to institutional investors (red flag).

20 million  / 100 million LOGI will be sold in the token sale – pre-sale, private, and public ($4m). The rest of the tokens will be used for the LOGI CHAIN Foundation (50m tokens), Smart Containers Group foundation capital and ecosystem initialization (25m tokens), and bounty program and incentivizing of board members (5m tokens).

As with SMARC, LOGI pre-sale was held at the end of May and open to select individuals and organizations. Pre-sale saw 5.85m tokens (29.3% of tokens for sale or $1.25m) for sale to invited investors. Participants in the pre-sale bought LOGI at a 25% discount and those in the public sale can buy 3.9m tokens (19.5% of float) worth $1m at a 15%, 10%, and 5% discount (first third, second third, and final third of participants respectively).

10.25m tokens, more than half the float of LOGI or $1.75m/$4m , is for private, institutional investors (another red flag).

Proceeds from the sales of both tokens follow a 3-year allocation plan.

For the funds raised through the sale of SMARC, $15m will be used to scale Skycell, $13m for the launch and scaling of FoodGuardians, $3.6m for reserves and team compensation, $2.4m for marketing, and $2m for Smart Containers IT.

LOGI sale proceeds will be used as follows.

• $1.55m initial IT development costs
• $1.5m setting up and running the LOGI CHAIN Foundation
• $0.75m marketing
• $0.2m finances and fees

As of press time, $12.82m/$21m in SMARC tokens have been sold while $1m/$3.25m in LOGI tokens have been sold.

All investors have to pass AML and KYC verification.

Team

CEO and Co-Founder Richard Ettl – worked at Bobst Group, a Switzerland-based, global leader in providing equipment and services to label and packaging manufacturers, before founding Smart Containers with Nico Ros

CTO and Co-Founder Nico Ros – as managing partner at ZPF, a Swiss engineering company, he worked with famous architects Herzog & DeMeuron to construct the most expensive buildings in Switzerland before founding Smart Containers with Richard Ettl

On the adviser side, two names stand out.

Oliver Bussmann, former CIO of UBS and SAP as well as President of the Crypto Valley Association (association that promotes development of Zug, Switzerland as a blockchain and crypto hub – Crypto Valley Association partners include KPMG and ConsenSys)

Michael Guzik, ICO Lead for Lykke and former Head of Blockchain & Manager of Digital Strategy at PwC

Verdict

Though Smart Containers is a proven company, the need for an ICO is vague, especially for its utility token LOGI, and LOGI CHAIN is yet to be developed. These factors along with other risks (discussed below) make this an investment that requires proper due diligence.

Risks

1. SMARC is definitely a security token since it grants token holders the right to dividends from Smart Containers’ profits. In its ICO FAQ, the company says that SMARC are not categorized as security tokens under Swiss law, but investors should be careful. -1
2. LOGI CHAIN yet to be built. -0.5
3. Very small amount of tokens available to public compared to private and pre-sale investors. -0.4
4. Information on lock-ups or vesting vague at best (see “What is the vesting schedule for Team and Advisors token?”), -0.4
5. No max contribution information. This along with heavy token distribution to pre-sale and private investors is worrying. -0.4
6. Smart Containers whitepaper light on details about LOGI token utility and focuses a lot on the company’s accomplishments thus far, making it seem like a push for non-equity fundraising via the sale of SMARC tokens in an ICO. -0.2
7. Competitors like VeChain, Walton, WaBi, etc. working on blockchain integration into supply chain scenarios and in the case of VeChain, have much more significant presence and partnerships (e.g. being incubated by PwC) already established. -0.2

Growth Potential

1. Through SkyCell, the company is well-established, operational, and has revenues. In the Smart Containers whitepaper, the team claims customers like Roche, Takada, and Novartis. +3.5
2. Skycell is partnered with large carriers like Cargolux and Emirates, already giving it an in in the industry. +2
3. Even if the ICO is mostly for fundraising via SMARC tokens, if the tokens really give token holders the right to dividends, investing in them could prove profitable if the company does well, which is very possible considering its past and present performance as one of the leaders in the container industry. +3.5

Disposition

• Although the need for LOGI utility token isn’t clear, and the LOGI CHAIN blockchain solution has yet to be developed, investing in SMARC tokens could prove profitable for investors that want to benefit from the dividends of a leading container providing company.
• Smart Containers receives a 5.9/10.

Investment Details

• Type: Security, Utility
• Symbol: SMARC, LOGI
• Platform: Unspecified
• Crowdsale: Now until June 30^th, 6PM CEST
• Minimum Investment: $500 USD
• Price: 1 SMARC = $0.432, 1 LOGI = $0.285
• Hard Cap: $40m ($36m SMARC, $4m LOGI)
• Payments Accepted: BTC, ETH, fiat currencies via credit card including USD, EUR, and CHF
• Restricted from Participating: USA and countries facing embargoes and sanctions from the US like Burma, Cuba, Côte d‘Ivoire, Iran, North Korea, and Syria.

More Information:

Smart Containers Website

Featured image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Source: Werzit – Local – Space – Cyber