The Astar Foundation’s Relayers Incubator 2023 seeks to boost Web3 innovations within the Polkadot ecosystem, offering resources across four specialized tracks and culminating in a Showcase Day for potential investors.
The Astar Foundation has unveiled its latest initiative to bring developers and entrepreneurs together and help innovative Web3 ideas within the Polkadot ecosystem to come to life. The Relayers Incubator 2023 has been introduced with the goal of nurturing innovative projects, allowing them to pitch to potential supporters and apply for grant funding to grow their business.
The Polkadot Relayers Incubator 2023 is completely free and there are no geographical restrictions for participants. Applicants will have to go through an interview process on a rolling basis before they are confirmed for a slot on the program.
Selected projects will have open access to valuable resources, including early-stage investors, marketing support, business development and network connections, legal direction, financing, and strategic advisory.
This community-driven program will guide participants to refine forward-thinking ideas and scale their business models, making it the premium incubator of the Polkadot network.
With a strong emphasis on building investable ideas, the Astar Foundation promises support to guide participating teams toward investment readiness and scalable business models in the Web3 space. This exclusive incubator program is limited to just 14 teams, allowing for personalized mentorship, skill development, and active engagement within the Polkadot ecosystem.
Four Distinct Tracks for Web3 Growth
Beyond just gathering a diverse pool of talented individuals to accelerate decentralized finance (DeFi) advancement, the incubator offers a variety of specialized paths for participants to explore. Overall, the Relayers Incubator 2023 features four distinct tracks, each catering to different facets of the Web3 landscape:
- XCM: Cross-Consensus Messaging (XCM) – This track is geared towards teams focused on cross-chain interoperability across the Polkadot network. Builders will tap into the capabilities of OAK Network to improve their services and collaborate with partnering chains, including Astar, Mangata, and Moonbeam.
- DeFi: Decentralized Finance (DeFi) – Builders interested in the evolving DeFi space can leverage this track to create various DeFi-related solutions, such as decentralized exchanges (DEXs), automated market makers (AMMs), and stablecoins. The aim is to contribute to the wider adoption of DeFi within the Polkadot ecosystem.
- NFT & Gaming: Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Gaming – This track is dedicated to fostering education and innovation within the NFT and gaming industries. Participants will utilize Zeitgeist’s SDKs to develop dApps that cater to the broader ecosystem’s needs or to create production-ready applications for the Unique Network through NFT pallets.
- Smart Contracts – This versatile track is designed to nurture high-quality dApps built on Astar or Moonbeam. Teams will receive the necessary support to develop their dApps, achieve product-market fit, and ensure successful adoption.
The central focus of the program is to empower teams to realize their full potential through dedicated mentorship and community support from seven specialized parachain teams. The culmination of the incubator program will be the Showcase Day, where participants will have the opportunity to present their solutions to potential investors, opening doors to funding, partnerships, and further scaling opportunities.
Program Timeline and Participation Details
The Relayers Incubator 2023 spans over 8 weeks, starting from September 5 and concluding on October 26. The program welcomes participants from around the world, as it primarily operates online, with registration opening on July 24 and closing on August 21.
Team participation is essential, with the requirement to attend at least 80% of all planned sessions. While there is no financial commitment required, active engagement throughout the program’s duration is encouraged.
With the focus on bootstrapping decentralized applications (dApps), the Relayers Incubator 2023 will nurture promising entrepreneurs and projects in emerging sectors including DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, and accelerate the adoption of the Polkadot ecosystem.
The Astar Foundation is set to welcome groundbreaking ideas that will have an added value to the growth of Web3, providing founders with initial funding and traction so they can focus on growing their projects. On top of that, it will connect talented entrepreneurs to core team members and experienced engineers, who have extensive experience in tokenomics design, marketing, development, and startup operations, helping them grow quickly.
