One of the largest community-driven innovation funds announces 16 million ADA funding round

• Latest phase of innovation fund will see 16m of ADA available to projects for world-leading green blockchain Cardano
• The fund now surpasses 55,000 members and over one million community votes, making it the world’s largest community-driven innovation fund
• Since its launch in September 2020, 32m ada has been awarded to projects and ecosystem rewards

One of the world’s largest community-driven innovation fund, Project Catalyst, has today opened submissions for Fund9, with 16 million of the cryptocurrency ada available for projects and ecosystem governance incentives. The fund, which has over 55,000 participating members, supports innovation on the world-leading green blockchain platform, Cardano. The announcement of Fund9 brings the total funding to date to over 48 million ada, with the community casting over one million votes since Project Catalyst launched the first fund in September 2020. 

Project Catalyst allows anyone to submit proposals for projects that address the community agreed challenges, which are then selected for funding via community votes. Additionally, anyone can submit a challenge proposal, setting the direction for proposals for the next fund, Fund10. Catalyst has been growing in size since its launch, with plans to receive over 5,000 proposals by the end of 2022.

Project Catalyst has already funded over 1,000 innovative blockchain-based projects, including a sustainable AI anti-fake news system, a merchant payment solution allowing merchants to accept ada as payment for their goods and services and which has since been integrated into Shopify, governance for fair supply chains in Ghana, free online courses on blockchain-based finance and tools for developers in West Africa, a platform for solar farmers on Cardano, and a food traceability solution for Africa. 

Harris Warren, Governance Group Product Lead, IO Global, said: “We started Project Catalyst with the ambition to decentralize innovation, and it’s incredible what the community has achieved in under two years.  We are now one of the largest decentralized innovation funds in the world."

“Across innovation in blockchain, there are decisions made behind closed-doors on project funding and direction setting by a handful of individuals that lack transparency or hide ulterior motives, and all have restrictive funding criteria. Project Catalyst aims to do this differently. As we continue to grow and develop our focus will be on ensuring we provide opportunities for the community - powered by the community."

”I can’t wait to see what innovations come out of this funding round and where the community continues to take the lead on Cardano’s growth and development.”

With each new fund release, multiple challenges are set by both the Project Catalyst team and the Project Catalyst community. Project Catalyst Fund9 has set out 11 new challenges across several domains including how Africa can prepare for the wide-scale adoption of Cardano, the great migration from Etherum to Cardano, and cross-chain collaboration. 

Project submissions will open at Consensus on June 9th for one month, closing on 30 June 2022.