Goren Holm Ventures is partnering with the city of Los Angeles at the Crypto Invest Summit next month on a pitch contest for blockchain startups called Block Tank. The Westlake Village blockchain accelerator and incubator, which also produces the summit known as CIS, will provide a $25,000 minimum investment offer to the winning team. The city is offering a $25,000 pilot project. Alon Goren, one of the founding partners along with Josef Holm in the firm, admitted there were selfish reasons for making the investment. “It is hard to get a large city like L.A. to do a pilot on new technology, especially one like blockchain,” Goren said. “We figured if we could invest in a company that has convinced L.A. to do it, then we won.” Goren Holm has invested in six startups that operate in the blockchain space. Goren described blockchain as a database that is immutable, or cannot be changed. The most well-known use for blockchain is as a digital ledger for cryptocurrencies. “It is the next evolution of databases and computing online where people can have more transparent transactions,” Goren added. “They really want it and the banks have not given it to them in the past. Now they are demanding it.” CIS brings together investors, companies and member of the general public looking to learn more about the technology. The event takes place in the spring and fall at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The next one, the sixth that Goren Holm has put on, is Oct. 15-16 during Los Angeles Blockchain Week. “We try to educate people who are brand new and don’t know anything about it,” Goren explained. “There are people who are down the rabbit hole and are some of the biggest experts in the world, and they come to participate and learn from their peers.” Block Tank will feature four startups chosen by the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Budget & Innovation and Information Technology Agency to go before a panel of judges, including representatives from Google LLC and Microsoft Corp. as well as investor Tim Draper, whose Draper Venture Network Goren Holm is a member of. Goren Holm is waiting on confirmation of a celebrity judge and a representative from the city. “It is important for us to have people from all aspects,” Goren said. “The technologists will understand the technology, the government people will understand government and the investors will understand investing in these companies. Tim is kind of a double threat in that sense in that he understands the technology very well and was an early proponent of it.” The focus of the summit is on the investment side of blockchain. Goren Holm would not allow in a company that was just selling some cryptocurrency tokens that didn’t make sense within the context of the event. “We focus on high-quality companies that are creating things that we believe will change the world,” Goren said.