Whitepaper

 

Problem and Motivation

• The current consumer data ecosystem is broken

  • Broken for consumers and internet users

    • Usually, data is taken without the user being aware

  • Broken for brands and enterprises that need access to this data

    • Often very difficult for small and medium-sized businesses to get access to legal and accurate data

    • Centralized data hoarding and control of data by third parties put increasingly less control and transparency of data by the consumer themselves as well as for enterprises

• Inefficient channels of engagement between brands and their target consumers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Enterprise and consumer not capturing the majority of the value

• Tightening data regulation and laws

  • General Data Protection Regulation is rolling out on May 25, 2018

  • Law in all of EU

• Problems of mass data centralization

  • A lot of our data is stored in one place and is easily hackable such as Yahoo hack or Equifax incident

  • International data flows have increased the world’s GDP by roughly 3.5%, equating to a total of 2.8 trillion in annual revenues

• Shifting dynamics

  • The consumer data and marketing landscape could use some large changes in the way its value-chain operates

    • Consumer and marketing data sector is a 156 billion market in the US alone

    • Vision is to build an ecosystem that will decentralize the way B2C interactions take place across the entire consumer lifecycle

    • The ecosystem that is trust and content-driven, mutually beneficial, reduces waste and maximizes the value

 

APEX Solution

• Overview

  • First, need to shift the power of data back into the hands of the consumer

  • Then need to minimize inefficiencies In the brand-consumer engagement method

  • Finally need to cut out resources and dollars wasted traditionally through a network of middlemen and pass this value on to both sides, consumer and enterprise

• Introducing APEX

  • A blockchain-powered data and interactions exchange that passes value and data ownership back to the consumer, as well as increasing marketing effectiveness, data quality, and customer loyalty for the enterprise

• Consumer Client App (CPX Wallet)

  • CPX Rewards Wallet

    • Accumulates over time depending on how often your data is used

  • Data Settings

    • The consumer has complete control over which data dimensions selected brands are able to access

  • Tags and Attributes

    • An easy way to enable the consumer to be accessible to more brands, implying more overall CPX accumulation

  • Brand Discovery

    • Easily discover brands that are interesting and allow to access particular data and engage them in certain ways

  • Message Inbox

    • Users will receive messages and notifications from their selected and approved brands with a CPX value attached

  • Message Details

    • When a message is opened, the format is a combination of text and images/video

  • Rewards Discovery

    • Users are able to browse and discover rewards that they can acquire using their CPX

  • Brand Details

    • Users can discover new brands by exploring what types of rewards and offers it ahs, as well as the average cost of data transacted with that brand

  • Enterprises will have the APEX SDK which allows for users to get paid in CPX to visit certain portions of the website

• Enterprise Client App (NEXUS)

  • Existing enterprise customer data platform with over 250 enterprise users

  • Enables the brand to manage target customer scope, data acquisition scope, cost management, rewards management and management of messages and engagements

  • Enterprise CPX Wallet & Full Transaction Record

  • Cost Management to data dimension

  • Engagement and message management

  • CPX purchase from the ecosystem in fiat currency

  • Rewards management

  • Real-time analytics

• NEXUS Core Capabilities

  • Brands not only have access to APEX’s data and value exchange ecosystem, but are able to manage, analyze, and activate the data using NEXUS’s suite of robust capabilities

  • Rich, high-quality data and the ability to form new 1-to-1 engaging relationships with new customers, combined with robust analytical and machine learning firepower enable businesses to obtain a next-level data-driven competitive advantage

  • Data collection & Integration

    • Real-time data ingestion from PC/mobile sites, APPs, and IoT devices

    • Seamless rule-based data integration and unified customer ID without writing any code

    • Freedom and complete control over data includes developer tools and SQL terminal

  • Real-time advanced analytics

    • Near real-time analytics – see latest customer behavior and custom triggered events

    • Multiple analytics models including event analytics, customer journey analytics, funnel analytics, and marketing attribution models

    • Turn insights into real-time action through integration with external marketing and personalization tools

  • Productized Machine Learning & AI models

    • Productized machine learning models for marketing, personalization, and deep customer insights

    • Models include linear regression, logistical regression, Bayes, K-means, random forest, neural network, RFM, NLP, churn prediction, deep learning neural network, ARIMA

  • Machine learning insights into action

    • Create new customer segments based on results of machine learning models

    • Drill down to individual customer data level with customer details, customer journey, and customer scoring

    • Use insights and segments directly in marketing campaigns, product recommendations, and push notifications

 

Global Partner Network

• App/Publisher Partner Network

  • Part of the data and value exchange ecosystem, and can help easily scale APEX’s consumer user base, as well have an indirect impact on the growth of the brand ecosystem

  • Fast, seamless integration with partner apps

    • CPX wallet will be non-intrusive plugin within the partner application

  • Connected to the APEX ecosystem

    • Once the SDK has properly been deployed, then the app partner is completely connected to the APEX ecosystem

• Enterprise Application Partners

  • APEX will also develop an enterprise application partner ecosystem for the demand-side of data and consumer interactions in the second stage of our Global Partnership Network development plan

  • The enterprise application partner network will help further scale APEX’s brand ecosystem

  • All partners will be thoroughly vetted against criteria that ensure fitness and value-add for the platform ecosystem

  • APEX’s enterprise application partners will mostly consist of marketing technology, marketing automation, and data analytics vendors

 

Comparison with Other Solutions

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Why CPX?

• Why Blockchain?

  • Building an open ecosystem in which trust and consent are the building blocks, and information and value are exchanged across the ecosystem without centralized middlemen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• CPX-to-Value

  • The primary use case of CPX will be transactions on the APEX blockchain

  • CPX can also be readily converted into value by being exchanged for usage of existing Chinapex products with various fee models

  • All product usage purchased using CPX will have an 80% discount

 

Information and Value Exchange Infrastructure

• At a bigger picture it acts as an exchange of information, value, and interactions between not just brands and consumers, but the entire larger ecosystem, including transactions between brands and partners

• Consumers

  • Increased data awareness, control, and transparency

  • Discover and redeem new offers and rewards

  • Get compensated for attention and engagement in CPX

• Brands

  • Acquire new customers efficiently and create new 1-to-1 relationships

  • Acquire customer insights

  • Increase customer loyalty

  • Create new sales channels and partnerships

• Partners

  • Increase user loyalty and stickiness by allowing access to rewards ecosystem

  • Monetize data assets

  • Easily create new commercial partnerships

• Reward Exchange via Legacy Systems

  • Rewards Approval Process

    • Integrate legacy system via RESTful API

    • Create and set up reward on NEXUS APEX Module, including setting CPX cost

    • If the reward is based on the legacy system, configure redemption mechanism via API

    • Submit for approval

    • Reward goes live

    • Audits on a periodic interval

• Onto a Blockchain Future

  • An interesting observation is that an enterprise’s or brand’s own internal loyalty network resembles a smaller scale APEX in terms of number of participants as well as functionality

 

Ecosystem

• Target Audience

  • Consumers

    • Age 22-40, male & female, smartphone users with medium and medium-high income, digital savvy

  • Partners

    • Mid-volume news, content, or commerce related apps with DAU over 20,000

    • Vertical-related apps also eligible

  • Brands

    • B2C mid to large brands in verticals travel, financial services, FMCG, Automotive, lifestyle & fashion, retail e-commerce, OTC pharma, consumer services, and education

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Growth & Scaling Mechanisms

  • Token Driven

    • 25% of tokens will be reserved for growing the platform and ecosystem

  • Partner Driven

    • Early partner app network will also drive low-friction consumer-side adoption

  • Rewards Driven

    • Tailoring APEX-specific rewards not offered elsewhere will help drive the Consumer Client App’s adoption

  • Brand Driven

• Geographical Expansion Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Token Dynamics

  • CPX for value (products, rewards, gifts, coupons), CPX for cash, CPX for data, interaction, and action

  • CPX to cash

    • A CPX to cash functionality will be built-in within CPX Wallet to enable monetization from CPX holders to CPX users that are part of the APEX ecosystem

• Business Model

  • Approach

    • Growth for the ecosystem as a priority

      • Various decisions surrounding product design, marketing strategy, brand selection, and partner development will be centered upon optimal growth rates of the brand, consumer, and app ecosystem

    • A productized platform, not just a protocol

      • Aim to build full solutions with great user experience and ease of use, with rich application-level functionalities, not just a protocol or mechanism layer

    • Robust synergies with existing offerings, technology, and customer base

      • APEX platform will leverage the existing brand customers, technology, and strategic partners of Chinapex to bring maximum differentiated value to the platform

  • Revenue Model

    • Value-added technology licensing

      • With the APEX ecosystem, Chinapex becomes one of the most differentiated consumer data technology companies in the space

      • Augment the value of data and engagements acquired through APEX

      • Existing users of NEXUS and IQ, APEX augments the value of these two technology products

    • Transaction fees

      • Charge a 5% transaction fee off of all purchases of CPX tokens by business users

 

Platform Regulation

• Data accuracy and Non-Abuse

  • Data Verification

    • The APEX team will embed off-chain data verification protocols within CPX Wallet, which the user would need to go through in order to receive the full value of CPX for any data or engagement transaction

  • Anomaly Detection via Machine Learning

    • Applications of machine learning algorithms surrounding user behavior are one of APEX and Chinapex’s technology team’s strengths

• Fair Cost and Rewards

  • Consumers receiving CPX for data and engaging in content

    • Accepted data usage rates will be auto-regulated by the APEX platform

    • Cost is completely set by the brand

  • Brands exchanging rewards with consumers, other brands, or partners

  • Reward Value-setting

    • APEX regulated: focus on the quality of brands and rewards and will aim to bring on brands that have optimal benefit for the growth of the platform

    • Community Regulated: Complexities introduced with variety and sheer number and scale

 

Technology Considerations

• Blockchain technology (NEO)

  • Built on NEO and will be an NEP-5 token

  • NEO uses newer technology than ETH and has quite a few technology improvements

  • dBFT increases efficiency and performance significantly over ETH

  • Unique built-in identity resolution capabilities

• On-chain and off-chain

  • Any mechanism that involves the exchange of value or any functionality that is consent-driven will be executed on-chain

  • Any application business-logic related features such as storing application data will either be on the device and in the cloud

 

The Company Behind APEX

• 35+ R&D Team

• 200+ Global + China Enterprise Customers

• 47 Billion Data points processed Annually

• 360 Million Unique consumer data processed and analyzed annually

• Chinapex is a customer data technology and AI company headquartered in Shanghai with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Silicon Valley

  • We combine cutting-edge big data, AI, and blockchain technology to tackle problems in areas of marketing, personalization, and customer analytics

  • Prism = real-time data collection infrastructure

  • Nexus = Enterprise customer data platform

  • iQ = Enterprise AI & Predictive Analytics

• Recognition and Honors

  • One of 15 out of 1000 companies selected for Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai. Microsoft Accelerator is the most selective accelerator in China

  • Ranked number 19 in 2017 Top Big Data Technology Companies in China

  • 2016 Standard Chartered’s “Most Promising Technology Startup” Award

  • Ranked number 22 on 2017 Top AI Companies in China

 

Roadmap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Team

 

• Jimmy Hu – Founder & CEO

  • Built internal marketing analytics for Microsoft, multi-year Microsoft technology contractor

  • China & Asia big data and AI market advisor for Gerson Lehrman Group and multiple US financial institutions

  • Forbes China 30 under 30

• Tiger Yang – Co-founder & President

  • Managed multiple internal data analytics projects for Microsoft, and Global Sources

  • China Internet Weekly “Innovative Leader of the Year Award” and “Person of the Year 2016”

• Richard Wang – CTO

  • Director of Engineering at Alibaba

  • CTO at 360 Finance

  • Team Lead at Youku

  • Team Lead at Microsoft

  • Microsoft IT Pro Award and Future Star Award

  • Software Engineering at Autodesk

• Robert Xu – VR Product

  • Product Director at Alibaba

  • Alibaba “Product Expert of the Year”

  • Team leader at Sohu

  • Director of big data products at Emar

• Technology and Operations Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Advisors

  • John Lin – Business Advisor

    • Partner at Trinity Ventures

  • Paul Yang – Advisor

    • General Manager at Oracle Marketing Cloud China

  • Jonathan Ha – Advisor

    • Founder & CEO at Red Pulse

  • Lihua Yi – Advisor & Investor

    • Co-founder of INBlockchain

 

Partners & Backers

 

• Red Pulse

  • CEO – “When scaling a B2C app platform, it’s very helpful to be able to extend user incentives to an ecosystem outside of the app itself, as well as leveraging user data to as providing more value from the user herself, APEX does this in a fashion that puts the user consent and interests at the forefront.”

• Bongmi

  • CEO – “As a hybrid IoT and mobile app company, we have rich and massive user datasets from all sorts of devices. Data analytics can only go so far to maximize value. To further increase user stickiness and lifetime value, I will need APEX to get connected with a bigger ecosystem of apps and consumer brands.”

• All of Chinapex’s partners which is over 250+

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Microsoft Azure

• Microsoft Accelerator

• Amazon Web Services

• Alibaba Cloud

• Oracle Marketing Cloud

• Baidu

• Tencent

• NEO

• Onchain

 

Articles

 

https://medium.com/@apexstories/chinapex-apex-founder-ceo-jimmy-hu-was-just-awarded-artificial-intelligence-person-of-the-year-b423dc3064d7

 

https://medium.com/@apexstories/chinapex-receives-iresearchs-best-marketing-technology-platform-of-the-year-award-979f49ace56d

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/APEXtoken/comments/7wzne6/apexchinapex_red_pulse_rpx_partnership/

 

https://medium.com/@apexstories/apex-network-cpx-to-debut-on-lbank-cda9fdbda95f

 

https://twitter.com/APEXnetworkCPX/status/977451606219268096

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/APEXtoken/comments/8buaxg/korean_documentary_being_made_about_apex/

 

https://usethebitcoin.com/apex-cpx-platform-will-help-secure-user-data/

 

https://www.icoexaminer.com/ico-news/apex-network-drops-neo-create-proprietary-blockchain/

 

https://themerkle.com/putting-consumer-data-back-in-your-hands-apex-ico/

 

Videos

 

https://vimeo.com/248419833

 

https://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=mXq6knQNH7s&u=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1y4_UxFxcjU%26feature%3Dshare

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc0tKYrkPcI

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBinfQ5B5wE

 

CoinCheckUp

 

 

Conclusion

I would give Apex a A  rating. First off this is a great whitepaper, very informative and descriptive. I think their idea is pretty great, it allows for Businesses to buy data from people through the CPX token making the advertisement more precise and cheaper. This takes away the revenue from companies that collect data and gives that money back to the people, as well as makes it easier for small businesses and universities collect the data. I worry about the current state of development for this project, not yet being on an exchange, and their roadmap was very simple. The management team is spectacular and the team members working on this project come from everywhere. The team is a great team to me and is a team I want to see in this space. The partners are major and are some of the biggest companies in the world. This team is very connected and already has a lot of customers. This is a perfect company to find and is worth investing a lot of money into this project. I think it really has a chance to be a leader in this space and has the connections to prove itself.