This archive report was first published on 29 July 2019.
July 29, 2019 - Lumachain, an Australian blockchain platform founded by Jamila Gordon, has secured $3.5 million in funding to combat modern slavery in Australia.
The funding round, led by Main Sequence, a CSIRO-linked venture capital investor, comes after Lumachain's participation in Microsoft's startup scale-up program.
According to Lumachain, the funds will be used to hire staff and expand its operations overseas, with a focus on bringing transparency to global supply chains.
“Our deeper purpose is to help end modern slavery,” said Lumachain. “For us, it’s personal: our founder Jamila Gordon was forced to work from the age of five, instead of attending school. We are passionate about ensuring children are given an education, and that adults are able to work in fair and safe conditions.”
Lumachain's platform tracks and traces the origin, location, and condition of individual items in a supply chain, in real-time, from farm to fork, incentivizing farmers and manufacturers to create high-quality, ethically-produced products.
The investment comes at a time when businesses across all sectors are under pressure to ensure they are not profiting from forced labor or other forms of modern slavery, with Lumachain helping firms to reduce waste, avoid recalls, and ensure compliance with the Modern Slavery Act introduced in Australia in 2018.
