Wave 25 is here! This time, EcoDev goes deeper: aligning selected projects, BD integrations, and community programs under one unified strategy for Polkadot.
Building on the Decentralized Futures Program’s momentum, we’ve recently started to forge partnerships with selected teams wherever strategic alignment and impact are greatest. By working directly with selected partners, we continue to fulfill our role as a core facilitator in the ecosystem, while ensuring that each collaboration advances our shared vision for the whole network.
Ten such agreements have been made during this wave in total, and many more are in the pipeline!
In close collaboration with pre‑screening partners (e.g. PolkaBiz or PBA), our invite‑only Founders Grants Program nurtures early-stage ideas that use the strengths of Polkadot’s remarkable tech as a foundation to build solutions that have the potential to disrupt a variety of industries.
So far, ten projects have been accepted. Given the early stage of the program, a remarkable number!
You can look forward to hearing more about these pioneering projects as they hit key milestones and deliver on their ambitious roadmaps.
Alex Dimitrijevic has joined Web3 Foundation to support the coordination and strategic guidance of Hub-relevant Business Development (BD) teams, such as Velocity and Magenta Labs.
Alex brings deep experience in merging blockchain infrastructure and tooling expertise with ecosystem growth from his previous roles. Besides his primary focus on driving Polkadot Hub‑related BD, he also bolsters our ongoing efforts to develop a strategy for the ongoing growth initiatives around the existing improvements of the Polkadot Rollups (i.e. parachains) offering.
It’s important to understand that Polkadot Hub and Rollups go hand-in-hand and perfectly complement each other: While many dApp developers prefer building on smart contracts due to their comparatively low barriers of entry and complexity, more sophisticated use cases requiring higher flexibility continue to build directly on top of the Polkadot SDK.
Led by Seraya, 25 key projects have been approached to gather feedback on pain points that they’ve experienced on their entrepreneurial journey. In addition, in‑depth interviews with industry leaders have been conducted, in order to complement the data that comes from the teams directly. Stay tuned while we’re compiling these results and converting them into targeted solutions that deliver real, lasting value for teams building on Polkadot!
While the DF Program’s application window remains closed for new applications, we continue to collaborate with the existing cohort of DF-supported projects.
Having allocated over $30 million across 50+ teams, the DF Program’s dynamic approach empowers participants to pursue ambitious goals while staying closely aligned with Polkadot’s vision. We remain dedicated to reviewing ongoing milestone deliveries from signed projects, ensuring they have the resources and guidance needed to thrive.
Ten DF‑supported projects have already completed all milestones, which is an exciting sign of progress across the cohort of 55.
Besides all these new developments, we continue to support technical open-source projects that bring value to the ecosystem through our long-standing W3F Grants Program.
Did you know that the W3F Grants Program turned 6 years in January?
The Web3 Foundation is expanding its initiatives to include funding, partnerships, and ecosystem collaborations. Here’s how you can get involved:
We strive to continuously improve our funding and ecosystem support initiatives and are always open to feedback. If you would like to share any suggestions or criticism, please reach out to us on GitHub or Element!
We remain committed to nurturing a vibrant, community-driven ecosystem that pushes the boundaries of what Web3 can achieve. Whether you’re an early-stage founder, an experienced developer, or simply passionate about decentralized tech, there’s a place for you in our growing community. Stay tuned for more announcements, and follow us on X.
By uniting developers, businesses, and community members under one collaborative ecosystem, we’re moving closer to a decentralized future where innovation knows no bounds. We can’t wait to see what you’ll build next.
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