Polkadot’s Funding Guide

Polkadot, an interconnected network of public blockchains, has released a detailed guide on funding options available for projects and individuals at various stages of development.

Funding Options

The guide includes:
– Venture Capital
– Ecosystem-wide Grants
– Specialized Development Grants
– Community-driven Funding Initiatives
– Project-specific Grants
– Bounties

Opportunities range from small grants to multi-million dollar funds, focusing on areas such as DeFi, gaming, and infrastructure.

Key Contributors

• Scytale and Harbour Industrial Capital stood out by providing capital and expertise to accelerate Polkadot-based projects.
• Scytale, which has invested in projects like Astar and Centrifuge, recently unveiled a dedicated Polkadot Ecosystem Fund.
• Harbour focuses on DeFi, NFTs, and metaverse projects, participating through Parachain auctions.

Targeted Grants

Projects targeting grants include:
– Moonbeam, which launched a $10 million Innovation Fund for gaming and real-world assets.
– Acala Grants Program, supporting pre-seed and seed-stage startups integrating with the Acala network.
– Aleph Zero, offering funding across multiple tracks to support developer innovations.

Web3 Foundation Grants Program

This program provides funding for software development and research efforts related to Polkadot and Kusama, with the opportunity to win up to 993,286.08 DOT in prizes. This effort is uniquely funded through Polkadot’s on-chain Treasury, managed by the network’s token holders via an on-chain governance system, OpenGov.

Community Initiatives

• Polimec, a decentralized funding protocol, allows stakeholders to participate in funding rounds.
• Polkaport East plans to establish a central hub for Polkadot in Hong Kong, attracting new teams and institutional investors.

Bounties and Governance

Polkadot introduced bounties to incentivize contributions:
– Polkadot DeFi Infrastructure & Tooling Bounty allocated $4 million for developing tools and infrastructure to enhance Polkadot adoption.
– The Polkadot Games Bounty provides grants to game developers based on milestone achievements.

Earlier this year, Polkadot streamlined its governance model to allow simultaneous voting on multiple issues, managed directly by the community.

Staying true to its blockchain reputation, Polkadot and its “canary” network Kusama take inspiration from platforms like Ethereum.