Profile
Company: Libra Project
Based: Masdar City, ADGM, London and Delaware
Launch year: 2017
Size: A team of 12 with six employed full-time
Sector: Renewable energy
Funding: $500,000 in Series A funding from family and friends in 2018. A Series B round looking to raise $1.5m is now live.
When Abu Dhabi renewable energy company Libra Project first set up in 2017, its founders never imagined that two years down the line they would be mistaken for one of the biggest companies in the world.
Libra Project plans to develop, fund and operate renewable energy power plants that provide clean electricity in developing parts of the world by using blockchain to reduce the cost of funding. The start-up’s goal to improve 100 million lives by 2030 will be funded by selling a security token that allows investors to choose which projects to build based on their positive impact as well as profits.
How often does one of the biggest companies in the world create a spin-off that happens to have the same name as your brand.
So when Facebook unveiled its digital coin Libra on June 18, a reserve-backed digital currency pegged to a basket of government-issued currencies set to go live in 2020, it left Libra Project's founders in a spin.
Both Facebook and Libra Associatoin, a membership organisation founded by Facebook's subsidiary Calibra and 27 other organisations that will govern the cryptocurrency, declined to comment.
As well as sharing a name, Facebook’s Libra will allow customers to make purchases or send money with zero fees, while Libra Project will roll out its fully compliant digital token later this year – similarities that caused confusion.
Hans Fraikin, founder and chief executive of Libra Project, says while some team members considered Facebook’s concept “a threat”, he saw it “as an opportunity – an incredible piece of serendipity if not cosmic luck”.
“How often does one of the biggest companies in the world create a spin-off that happens to have the same name as your brand that you registered in the UK, the US and Europe a year and a half before? The way I saw it was that all of a sudden this increased our brand value exponentially.”
James Spence, founding partner of the venture, says Libra Project's website experienced a 2,000 per cent spike in the first three days after Facebook's announcement. While some visitors registered names and contact details, the company was also trolled by anti-Facebook campaigners.
“We don’t want people to affiliate us with Facebook,” says Mr Spence. “They have some trust issues, so we’ve had to reach out to our partners and assure them that we are not Facebook. We are the Libra Project, we own our name and have registered and they should have no concerns about doing business with us.”
Libra Project was first set in motion when Mr Spence and co-founder and chief technology officer Alexander Alzamora brainstormed ideas on how to fund renewable energy projects.
Mr Alzamora, who has worked in the sector for 10 years, was finding traditional fundraising mechanisms challenging, prompting Mr Spence, with a background in financial services, to suggest a different way to drive capital to projects.
“We looked at the traditional fund model and did not like the middle man mentality – with the lack of choice and the decisions being made for profit rather than for the actual impact they are going to make,” says Mr Spence. “We then looked at using blockchain as a way to give a vote to the token holders about which projects would be built."
Mr Spence says any impact delivered by the projects is transmitted transparently onto blockchain along with the financial transactions and the returns. The impact will be measured by using Internet of Things devices that capture data such as levels of air pollution at a project’s source.
The clean tech impact investor will operate in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, by building biomass, solar, waste heat recovery and waste-to-energy projects in the Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa regions - growth areas for energy consumption.
In Southeast Asia, for example, the population is set to increase to 715 million people in 2025 from 615 million in 2014, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. In turn, electricity demand will grow 4 per cent annually, doubling demand from today according to the International Renewable Energy Agency ’s 2018 ASEAN Remap report, as governments increasingly look for renewable options.
One initiative, Libra Project, is considering is a waste heat recovery system at a Philippines cement plant. When the plant is active, it prevents 35,000 people living in nearby villages from accessing power, Mr Spence says.
“By putting a waste heat recovery system on that cement plant – that’s funded by the tokenisation system – instead of becoming a consumer of electricity off the grid, it becomes a generator of clean energy electricity and it’s self-sufficient,” says Mr Spence. “We are selling electricity to the cement plant and the investors own the equipment providing that electricity and they own the revenue coming back.”
To fund the company, the founders reached out to friends and family for the Series A round of $500,000 (Dh1.8 billion) in 2018. While the holding company, Libra Project Asset Management, is registered in London, UK, the operation and maintenance arm to oversee the projects is registered in Abu Dhabi's Masdar City and the Digital Securities issuance company is registered in Abu Dhabi Global Market (for the international market) and in Delaware (for the US market).
The company has seven projects in the pipeline and is currently closing a deal on the acquisition of three biomass plants in Thailand, which will help approximately 10,000 homes in the area receive electricity with a carbon offset of 87,253.9 tonnes annually.
"We are launching globally but the US is the toughest financial market from a security point of view in line with SEC [US Securities and Exchange Commission] regulation," says Mr Spence. "Once we have the sign-off in the US, that's pretty good to take to the rest of the world. There will be a few changes for the UK, Europe and this market but the bulk of the work is done."
Libra Project hopes to roll out the digital token in the third quarter of this year, however, Mr Spence says Facebook’s Libra coin “delayed” the launch and the company's Series B funding while it took “a step back to assess the situation”.
“We’ve now decided we are good to move forward," Mr Spence says.
Of the $1.5m Libra Project is looking to raise, about $500,000 is already reserved, with about $925,000 left to sell at $100 a share, which offers investors equity in the holding company and a corresponding amount of tokens.
It was in January this year that Libra Project first heard that another entity was interested in their name. They were contacted by a law firm, which said it was representing an anonymous partner. The partner wanted to buy some of Libra Project’s domains.
“When we opened the company we registered 32 domain titles to try and secure our IP so that other people could not clone our site as we grew,” says Mr Spence.
“We told the lawyer we had certain domains we wanted to keep but there are others we might be willing to part with if the price was right as long as there was no conflict with what the other company was doing."
Facebook and Libra Association, which has one domain, Libra.org, as its official site, declined to comment on any past or future plans to purchase additional domains.
While Libra Project has not sold any domain names yet and is not considering legal action over the name, there has been some crossover.
Facebook’s coin is called Libra but many media outlets have referred to the venture as Libra project.
“That is causing some confusion for people trying to buy [our token] when we’re not selling it yet," says Mr Spence.
Last month Facebook said it would not proceed with the launch of its cryptocurrency until regulatory concerns are addressed, as the US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin took the unusual step of saying he had serious concerns it could be used for illicit activity.
Ultimately, Libra Project hopes Facebook may want to tie up with them in the future.
Mr Spence adds: "I hope Facebook look at what we are doing and the environmental and social impact we are trying to create and come in to support us.”
Q&A: James Spence, founding partner of Libra Project
What is the minimum investors can put in?
$100. That is a lot cheaper than most investments in impact – for those you will be asked to place $10,000 for 10 years.
How easily can you access your money?
It's like any digital security; if you need your money back tomorrow then you just sell it at the market price. And we won’t be charging a fee. A lot of platforms charge a 5 per cent bid spread on the buy and sell price – ours will be at the market rate.
So, there is no lock-in period?
When people first buy our digital security there will be a lockaway period; we can’t have people buying and selling coins until the projects are built. Once the project starts generating a revenue, we’ll put it out there for the retail market to resell. The length of the lock-in period is yet be fully discussed and disclosed.
What will that token buy?
You won’t specifically own assets in one project, you’ll own a share of the whole company — so multiple projects that are all generating a revenue. You are getting returns on your $100 share — as your percentage over the whole of the company.
What are the risks for investors?
We are looking at funding the first couple of projects alternatively so that we already have a working revenue model before the investors come in. That takes away a lot of the risk if we already have an income coming into the company.
Could investors lose their money?
What type of investors are you targeting?
We’re not going to the retail market yet. We’re going to accredited investors to start off … the retail market will take some time. It costs a lot to be signed off by all the regulators globally for the retail segment. By the time we get to that stage, we will already have most of the power projects built through the accredited investors.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Baftas 2020 winners
BEST FILM
- 1917 - Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes, Jayne-Ann Tenggren
- THE IRISHMAN - Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Martin Scorsese, Emma Tillinger Koskoff
- JOKER - Bradley Cooper, Todd Phillips, Emma Tillinger Koskoff
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, Quentin Tarantino
- PARASITE - Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae
DIRECTOR
- 1917 - Sam Mendes
- THE IRISHMAN - Martin Scorsese
- JOKER - Todd Phillips
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Quentin Tarantino
- PARASITE - Bong Joon-ho
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
- 1917 - Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Jayne-Ann Tenggren, Krysty Wilson-Cairns
- BAIT - Mark Jenkin, Kate Byers, Linn Waite
- FOR SAMA - Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
- ROCKETMAN - Dexter Fletcher, Adam Bohling, David Furnish, David Reid, Matthew Vaughn, Lee Hall
- SORRY WE MISSED YOU - Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty
- THE TWO POPES - Fernando Meirelles, Jonathan Eirich, Dan Lin, Tracey Seaward, Anthony McCarten
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
- THE FAREWELL - Lulu Wang, Daniele Melia
- FOR SAMA - Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
- PAIN AND GLORY - Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar
- PARASITE - Bong Joon-ho
- PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE - Céline Sciamma, Bénédicte Couvreur
LEADING ACTRESS
- JESSIE BUCKLEY - Wild Rose
- SCARLETT JOHANSSON - Marriage Story
- SAOIRSE RONAN - Little Women
- CHARLIZE THERON - Bombshell
- RENÉE ZELLWEGER - Judy
LEADING ACTOR
- LEONARDO DICAPRIO - Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood
- ADAM DRIVER - Marriage Story
- TARON EGERTON - Rocketman
- JOAQUIN PHOENIX - Joker
- JONATHAN PRYCE - The Two Popes
SUPPORTING ACTOR
- TOM HANKS - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
- ANTHONY HOPKINS - The Two Popes
- AL PACINO - The Irishman
- JOE PESCI - The Irishman
- BRAD PITT - Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- LAURA DERN - Marriage Story
- SCARLETT JOHANSSON - Jojo Rabbit
- FLORENCE PUGH - Little Women
- MARGOT ROBBIE - Bombshell
- MARGOT ROBBIE - Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- THE IRISHMAN - Steven Zaillian
- JOJO RABBIT - Taika Waititi
- JOKER - Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
- LITTLE WOMEN - Greta Gerwig
- THE TWO POPES - Anthony McCarten
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- BOOKSMART - Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Katie Silberman
- KNIVES OUT - Rian Johnson
- MARRIAGE STORY - Noah Baumbach
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Quentin Tarantino
- PARASITE - Han Jin Won, Bong Joon ho
DOCUMENTARY
- AMERICAN FACTORY - Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
- APOLLO 11 - Todd Douglas Miller
- DIEGO MARADONA - Asif Kapadia
- FOR SAMA - Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
- THE GREAT HACK - Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaime
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
- BAIT - Mark Jenkin (Writer/Director), Kate Byers, Linn Waite (Producers)
- FOR SAMA - Waad al-Kateab (Director/Producer), Edward Watts (Director)
- MAIDEN - Alex Holmes (Director)
- ONLY YOU - Harry Wootliff (Writer/Director)
- RETABLO - Álvaro Delgado-Aparicio (Writer/Director)
ANIMATED FILM
- FROZEN 2 - Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho
- KLAUS - Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh
- A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE: FARMAGEDDON - Will Becher, Richard Phelan, Paul Kewley
- TOY STORY 4 - Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen
CASTING
- JOKER - Shayna Markowitz
- MARRIAGE STORY - Douglas Aibel, Francine Maisler
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Victoria Thomas
- THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD - Sarah Crowe
- THE TWO POPES - Nina Gold
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
- AWKWAFINA
- JACK LOWDEN
- KAITLYN DEVER
- KELVIN HARRISON JR.
- MICHEAL WARD
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- 1917 - Roger Deakins
- THE IRISHMAN - Rodrigo Prieto
- JOKER - Lawrence Sher
- LE MANS ’66 - Phedon Papamichael
- THE LIGHTHOUSE - Jarin Blaschke
EDITING
- THE IRISHMAN - Thelma Schoonmaker
- JOJO RABBIT - Tom Eagles
- JOKER - Jeff Groth
- LE MANS ’66 - Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Fred Raskin
COSTUME DESIGN
- THE IRISHMAN - Christopher Peterson, Sandy Powell
- JOJO RABBIT - Mayes C. Rubeo
- JUDY - Jany Temime
- LITTLE WOMEN - Jacqueline Durran
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Arianne Phillips
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- 1917 - Dennis Gassner, Lee Sandales
- THE IRISHMAN - Bob Shaw, Regina Graves
- JOJO RABBIT - Ra Vincent, Nora Sopková
- JOKER - Mark Friedberg, Kris Moran
- ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD - Barbara Ling, Nancy Haigh
SOUND
- 1917 - Scott Millan, Oliver Tarney, Rachael Tate, Mark Taylor, Stuart Wilson
- JOKER - Tod Maitland, Alan Robert Murray, Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic
- LE MANS ’66 - David Giammarco, Paul Massey, Steven A. Morrow, Donald Sylvester
- ROCKETMAN - Matthew Collinge, John Hayes, Mike Prestwood Smith, Danny Sheehan
- STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - David Acord, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson, Matthew Wood
ORIGINAL SCORE
- 1917 - Thomas Newman
- JOJO RABBIT - Michael Giacchino
- JOKER - Hildur Guđnadóttir
- LITTLE WOMEN - Alexandre Desplat
- STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - John Williams
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
- 1917 - Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheron, Dominic Tuohy
- AVENGERS: ENDGAME - Dan Deleeuw, Dan Sudick
- THE IRISHMAN - Leandro Estebecorena, Stephane Grabli, Pablo Helman
- THE LION KING - Andrew R. Jones, Robert Legato, Elliot Newman, Adam Valdez
- STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Neal Scanlan, Dominic Tuohy
MAKE UP & HAIR
- 1917 - Naomi Donne
- BOMBSHELL - Vivian Baker, Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan
- JOKER - Kay Georgiou, Nicki Ledermann
- JUDY - Jeremy Woodhead
- ROCKETMAN - Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
BRITISH SHORT FILM
- AZAAR - Myriam Raja, Nathanael Baring
- GOLDFISH - Hector Dockrill, Harri Kamalanathan, Benedict Turnbull, Laura Dockrill
- KAMALI - Sasha Rainbow, Rosalind Croad
- LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL) - Carol Dysinger, Elena Andreicheva
- THE TRAP - Lena Headey, Anthony Fitzgerald
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
- GRANDAD WAS A ROMANTIC - Maryam Mohajer
- IN HER BOOTS - Kathrin Steinbacher
- THE MAGIC BOAT - Naaman Azh
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Results
Stage 7:
1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29
2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time
3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
Gulf Men's League final
Dubai Hurricanes 24-12 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
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Match info
Uefa Champions League Group C
Liverpool v Napoli, midnight
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
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If you go
The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road.
The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
Profile
Company: Libra Project
Based: Masdar City, ADGM, London and Delaware
Launch year: 2017
Size: A team of 12 with six employed full-time
Sector: Renewable energy
Funding: $500,000 in Series A funding from family and friends in 2018. A Series B round looking to raise $1.5m is now live.
