BTX Racing rattles tin for $5m as blockchain-based horse ownership grows

“I’ve always followed the horse racing and now there are ways to get a share in a winning horse and then get a payout from the winnings,” he said.

Among the racehorses on the BTX Racing platform are some trained by Melbourne Cup Winning trainers Ciaron Maher Racing and Gai Waterhouse.

Funding pitch

BTX Racing is rattling the tin for $5 million in seed funding, to boost growth in its blockchain-based breeding program that gives punters the chance to buy a share in broodmares and build out more ownership features.

As it stands, BTX Racing offers micro-shares in a racehorse for a minimum of $75 and shares start at 0.01 per cent. Each token is issued on the Polygon blockchain, an ethereum-based network that bills itself as a faster way to complete crypto transactions.

“Until now, it’s been a pretty paper-based sort of industry,” said Steve Piek, the founder and chief executive of BTX Racing.

“But now that we’ve built out this technology and the racehorses we own have been winning a bit, we want to scale the business out to bring on more customers.”

BTX Racing has six employees and received early backing from racing and breeding operation Trilogy Racing last year.

Luckily for Mr Barlow, the partnership with Trilogy Racing brought the thoroughbred Chaillot onto the platform. The six-year-old mare has already pulled $550,000 in career earnings and all 400 0.5 per cent micro shares sold out in under 48 hours.

The racing side of the business is one thing, but Mr Piek sees a large market in breeding broodmares, which has traditionally only been accessible to those with deep pockets.

BTX has bought five broodmares which are in foal at Blue Gum Farm at the foot of the Strathbogie Ranges in north-east Victoria.

Fractional owners such as Mr Barlow are offered an interest in the broodmares and their subsequent foals for two years, with a forecast return on investment on the 10 foals to be sold at the 2025/26 auctions.

Shares are set to start at about $200 for the ownership rights to the foal and a share of the sale proceeds.

“It’s the kind of industry where there’s lots of knowledge floating around, but getting access to the upside itself has always been difficult,” Mr Piek said.

“Add to that the administrative nightmare of keeping track of ownership, and a generation of younger people keen to understand an alternative set of assets, and there’s an opportunity to grow really big here.”

Correction: Chaillot, the horse, placed in a Group One event in Queensland. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Chaillot placed first.