June 15, 2022, Hosted by Rocky Mountain Bank

July 22, 2022

By Melissa Paulsen

The Montana High Tech Business Alliance traveled to Bozeman on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 for a summer roundtable covering the future of Web3, blockchain, and NFTs headed by guest speaker Lisa Seacat DeLuca, followed by an evening reception hosted by Rocky Mountain Bank. Tod Peterson, President and CEO, and his colleagues at RMB provided hors d’ oeuvres and beverages and introduced their newest team member Dan Bettencourt, Bozeman President & Commercial Team Lead. The June reception marked the seventh event Rocky Mountain Bank has hosted on behalf of the Alliance.

CONNECT: Lisa Seacat DeLuca Shares the Opportunities Behind Tech’s Biggest Buzzwords

Lisa Seacat DeLuca, Director of Product Management & Engineering for Web3 Identity at Unstoppable Domains teaches MHTBA members and guests about Web3, blockchain, and NFTs inside the Bozeman Event Space.

Director of Product Management & Engineering for Web3 Identity at Unstoppable Domains, Lisa Seacat DeLuca, spoke about the hidden opportunities behind the tech industry’s biggest buzzwords like blockchain and NFTs

As a startup in the Web3 space, Unstoppable Domains seeks to empower user-owned, digital identity for every person on the planet.

During the roundtable, DeLuca explained how NFT domains can drive equity, privacy, and empowerment for billions of people since NFT domains are technological infrastructure that allow people to own their reputation and data between apps.

DeLuca is a TED speaker and the most prolific female inventor in IBM history with over 850 patent applications filed and over 650 granted to date. In addition, DeLuca is an Inductee into the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame and was featured three times on the #LinkedInTopVoices in Technology list.

Don’t miss our video recording of the conversation with Lisa Seacat DeLuca and stay tuned for a full recap of the conversation in an upcoming newsletter.

PROMOTE: Pulsara Bridges the Gap Between Medical Professionals and Technology to Improve Response Times in Emergency Situations and Beyond

Cynthia Bradford Lencioni, COO of Pulsara, showcased how technology can literally save lives. Pulsara is a Bozeman-based mobile healthcare information technology company that connects teams across organizations by using technology to increase response times in an emergency.

“We can help coordinate care and get that care accelerated when time matters,” Lencioni said.

Outside of STEMI emergency situations, the Pulsara platform can be used in stroke cases, cardiac arrest cases, sepsis, and for general patients dealing with broken bones or who may be in labor. Pulsara has also developed a desktop version of its platform which aggregates all the live patient channels as well as historical data for hospitals in real time to help them manage their load balancing.

In the age of COVID-19, Pulsara is also working to keep patients out of emergency rooms. “We’ve developed an emergency management and pandemic use case and features that enabled systems of care to load balance patients and keep them away from emergency rooms unless they needed to come in,” Lencioni said.

Pulsara developed its intuitive “Pulsara Patient” mobile app by utilizing its live video technology feature. According to Lencioni, the provider launches the app by sending a code to the patient and the patient’s family. The patient then downloads the code which enables the provider to initiate a one-way video communication to discuss what the patient needs.

Once a pre-revenue company, Pulsara now serves over 1,000 organizations in the United States and Australia. The company has plans to further develop its app’s features and functionality to help provide aid during mass casualty incidents like natural disasters.

“[The app] is going to be used during the hurricane season in Texas for evacuating nursing home patients,” Lencioni said. “The families [of the patients], as well as the caregivers, will know where the patients are [by] leveraging our platform and getting them to safety.”

ACCELERATE: Figure’s Incubated Open-Source Provenance Blockchain for Financial Services Helps Manage Digital Currency

Nate Lampert, Director of People Operations for Figure, and Ira Miller, Vice President of Engineering for Provenance Blockchain Foundation, highlight Figure's spinoff initiative Provenance Blockchain during the MHTBA reception at Rocky Mountain Bank in Bozeman.

Nate Lampert, Director of People Operations for Figure, introduced Figure’s incubated open source Provenance Blockchain for financial services alongside Ira Miller, Vice President of Engineering for Provenance Blockchain Foundation during the lightning talks at the MHTBA reception.

In 2018, Figure began as a financial tech company with the goal of leveraging blockchain to deliver products and services in the financial service sector quicker and cheaper than traditional institutions. The core of Figure’s software engineering team is in Montana, primarily in Helena and Bozeman, with 77 Montana employees out of a 600-person company.

Figure’s spinoff initiative Provenance Blockchain has quickly grown into its own entity. “We built Provenance four years ago with the idea of not only leveraging our own products and services on the blockchain at Figure, but also opening that [opportunity] up to a larger community [by] allowing other companies and developers to put [their] products and services on Provenance,” Lampert said.

Miller, who served as one of the original engineers behind Provenance, commented that it has developed into a unique blockchain platform. “[Provenance] is designed for regulated entities to be comfortable in conducting business. The part that's coming next is really that public face. Figure proved that [Provenance] works, proved how to use it, and now it’s ready for everybody else.”

Provenance is used by over 50 financial institutions and operates at scale today with billions of dollars of digital financial assets transacted across lending, payments, and marketplaces.

“It’s a very exciting endeavor, and it’s great to see that so many engineers that started [Provenance] come from [Montana],” Miller said.

About the Publisher: Launched in 2014, the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is a nonpartisan nonprofit association of more than 200 high tech and manufacturing companies and affiliates creating high-paying jobs in Montana. For more information, visit MTHighTech.org or subscribe to our biweekly newsletter.

About the Author: Melissa Paulsen is the communications coordinator for the Montana High Tech Business Alliance. She graduated from the University of Montana in 2022 with a BFA in creative writing.