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.
The guide includes venture capital, ecosystem-wide grants, specialized development grants, community-driven funding initiatives, project-specific grants, and bounties. It also outlines opportunities ranging from small grants to multi-million dollar funds, focusing on areas such as DeFi, gaming, and infrastructure.
Specifically, Scytale and Harbour Industrial Capital stood out by providing capital and expertise to speed up Polkadot-based projects. Scytale, which has invested in projects such as Astar and Centrifuge, recently unveiled a dedicated Polkadot Ecosystem Fund.
For its part, Harbour focuses on DeFi, NFTs, and metaverse projects, participating through Parachain auctions.
Specific projects also have targeted grants. Moonbeam launched a $10 million Moonbeam Innovation Fund to boost development in gaming and real-world assets. And the Acala Grants Program supported a few pre-seed and seed-stage startups integrating with the Acala network, while Aleph Zero offered funding across multiple tracks to support developer innovations.
Elsewhere, the Web3 Foundation Grants Program provided 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 onchain Treasury, which is managed by the network’s token holders through an onchain governance system, OpenGov. Holding over 20 million DOT, the Treasury is dedicated to supporting projects that benefit the Polkadot ecosystem, representing a new paradigm in the decentralized financial agency,” the report further details.
Community-driven funding initiatives like Polimec, a decentralized funding protocol, enable stakeholders to participate in funding rounds. Moreover, Polkaport East plans to establish a central hub for Polkadot in Hong Kong, attracting new teams and institutional investors.
Polkadot has also introduced bounties to incentivize contributions. The Polkadot DeFi Infrastructure & Tooling Bounty allocated $4 million for developing tools and infrastructure to overcome barriers to Polkadot adoption. Moreover, the Polkadot Games Bounty provides grants to game developers based on milestone achievements.
Earlier this year, Polkadot streamlined its governance model to enable simultaneous voting on multiple issues, all directly managed by the community.
Staying true to its blockchain reputation, Polkadot, along with its "canary" network Kusama, has taken cues from earlier platforms like Ethereum.