(Yicai Global) Sept. 25 -- Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings played a part in Everledger's recent A-round funding and plans to help the British blockchain services provider run a WeChat app to help Chinese shoppers better understand where the diamonds they buy are sourced.

Graphene Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Rakuten, Fidelity Investments and Vickers Venture Partners all contributed to the USD20 million series, Everledger, which monitors sourcing of gems, fine wines and art using blockchain, said in a statement yesterday. It did not disclose how much each company chipped in.

The London-based firm hopes to launch the first ever mini-app for tracking diamonds using blockchain and connect major stakeholders along the gem's value chain while offering greater transparency to consumers, Chief Executive Leanne Kemp said, adding that Tencent would help expand the service.

While diamonds are renowned as a girl's best friend, the truth behind the gem's supply chain is far from as pretty as the product the industry turns out. Many, known as blood or conflict diamonds, are mined and smuggled from warzones and their profits leveraged to fund rebel insurgencies.

Some 99.8 percent of the world's diamonds come from conflict-free sources, according the Kimberley Process, the international initiative tasked with cleaning up the global diamond mining trade, though other sources believe the figure to be considerably lower. Even the KP admits there are still several areas -- typically in central and western Africa -- where blood diamonds remain an issue.

2015-founded Everledger and similar firms have password protected more than 2 million diamonds worldwide via blockchain, according to public data.

James Mitchell, chief strategy officer at Tencent, said the company's technologies add value for consumers and can lower business risks across the entire sector.

Editor: James Boynton