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A
The
next
talk
will
be
about
the
fuel
that
drives
that
engine
josh
daniels
is
the
head
of
funding
at
near
foundation.
You
may
have
heard
about
the
800
million
ecosystem
funds,
news
that
was
dropped
recently.
He
is
the
person
with
the
keys
to
those
funds
and
he
will
be
discussing
founders
and
funding
in
his
top.
Please
welcome
josh
to
the
stage.
B
A
B
Was
mentioned,
I
head
up
the
funding
team
here
at
near
and
today
really
going
to
talk
about
sort
of
how
we
have
now
started
to
build
out
a
funding
platform
that
ultimately
is
supporting
founders.
Basically,
here's
kind
of
a
quick
agenda
of
what
I'm
hoping
to
cover.
B
I
would
really
love
to
leave
some
time
for
q
a
in
the
room
if
anyone
have
questions,
but
basically
the
goal
of
this
session
is
really
to
give
clarity
to
everyone,
both
here
in
lisbon,
as
well
as
in
the
near
verse,
understanding
of
what
are
the
funding
options
within
the
ecosystem
and
how
best
to
engage
with
us
in
order
to
capture
that
funding.
B
So,
let's
start
first
with
sort
of
defining
what
the
funding
platform
is,
because
that's
a
pretty
nebulous
term.
So
here's
really
kind
of
how
we
think
about
it
is
that
the
foundation
awesomely
is
focused
on
providing
capital
and
support
to
projects
at
varying
stages
of
growth
and
development
within
the
ecosystem.
B
Obviously,
as
todd
and
others
have
mentioned,
we're
fairly
early
on
in
the
development
of
the
ecosystem,
given
maine,
that's
been
online
for
a
little
over
a
year,
but
for
us
we
see
projects
accelerating
in
growth
and
building
raising
capital
externally
launching
a
mainnet
touching
tens
of
thousands,
if
not
hundreds
of
thousands
of
users,
and
we
want
to
make
sure
our
funding
options
meet
them
where
they
are
in
terms
of
what
capital
they
need,
what
support
they
need
and
what
guidance
they
need
and
really
the
funding
platform
is
about
developing
those
tools
and
channels
to
support
them
as
they
grow.
B
So
we
launched
our
funding
efforts
in
february
this
past
year
and
so
really
want
to
start
out
by
giving
a
bit
of
a
background
on
our
mvp
funding
program,
our
minimal
viable
product
program
that
has
been
running
for
the
last
six
or
so
months.
So
this
program,
as
I
mentioned,
was
launched
in
february
of
2021.
B
It
was
really
a
community
effort
within
the
ecosystem,
with
folks
from
a
lot
of
our
core
teams.
Devrel
our
operations
team,
our
infrastructure
team
really
was
it
all
hands
on
deck
approach,
and
the
goal
was
really
to
stand
up
our
grants
program,
which
is
really
non-equity
capital
that
we
give
to
projects
that
are
bootstrapping
and
developing
within
the
ecosystem.
B
To
date,
we've
deployed
45
million
dollars
to.
I
think
at
this
point
now
we're
over
130
projects
year
to
date
and
that's
going
to
sort
of
today.
So
it's
really
been
a
quite
a
bit
of
an
acceleration
in
growth
and
focus
in
terms
of
projects.
We
also
were
able
to
launch
our
fast
grants
program
this
past
quarter
and
I'll
go
in
a
little
bit
of
the
details
there.
But
ultimately,
the
goal
of
that
program
is
really
to
provide
grant
support
to
projects
very
quickly.
B
One
of
the
things
we've
heard
throughout
the
web
3
ecosystem
is
that
the
time
it
takes
from
applying
to
a
grant
or
inquiring
about
a
grant
is
usually
quite
long
can
be
sort
of
three
to
six
months,
and
one
of
the
things
we're
constantly
focused
on
in
the
near
ecosystem
is
shortening
that
time
in
our
fast
grants.
Program
is
really
core
to
that.
B
Here
are
a
few
highlights
of
some
grants.
We've
given
out
to
date,
which
really
kind
of
showed
the
diversity
of
projects
that
we're
focused
on
and
also
both
in
terms
of
sort
of
sector
and
focus,
but
then
also
in
terms
of
where
they're
at
in
sort
of
development
stage.
B
So
you
have
tri
solaris
here,
who's
deployed
on
aurora
as
a
centralized
exchange,
lequality,
which
recently
raised
a
seven
million
dollar
round
for
a
cross
chain
across
blockchain
wallet
and
so
obviously
they're
developing
quite
mature
in
terms
of
their
growth
comparatively
to
some
of
these
other
projects,
kroncat,
which
is
a
crowd
favorite
and
is
really
focused
on
bringing
dev
tools
and
support
within
the
ecosystem
and
then
kurtosis,
which
has
been
partnering
quite
well
with
our
platform
team
and
some
of
our
core
engineers
as
they're
building
out
testing
environments.
B
B
So
you
can
see
here-
this
is
important.
To
note-
is
that
we've
had
a
400
growth
rate
in
committed
capital
to
grants
from
q2
to
q3.
So
you
can
see
here.
Some
of
the
projects
that
are
highlighted
are
ones
that
are
received
grants.
This
is
definitely
does
not
include
all
of
them,
but
one
of
the
really
things
we're
focused
on
is
again
that
speed
of
deployment
and
the
amount
of
capital
we
can
deploy
across
all
those
projects.
B
So
at
this
point,
we've
really
realized
that
you
know
we
are
ready
to
move
from
our
minimum
viable
stage
into
our
funding.
Platform
stages
is
really
around
again
showing
those
channels
of
support
that
are
exist
for
projects
to
really
capture
funding
within
the
ecosystem
and
one
of
the
core
pieces
of
that,
as
as
mentioned
before,
is
our
800
million
global
ecosystem
fund
that
was
announced
earlier
this
week
and
it's
really
a
focus
around
giving
the
ecosystem
sort
of
the
fuel
that
they
need
to
build
and
grow
and
scale.
B
So
I'm
going
to
break
this
sort
of
announcement
down
a
little
bit
for
folks,
so
they
can
kind
of
understand
the
pieces
here.
So
250
million
of
that
is
going
to
go
to
our
near
grants
program,
and
so,
as
I
mentioned
before,
this
is
really
around
non-equity
capital,
going
directly
to
support
new
and
existing
projects
and
teams
in
the
ecosystem.
C
B
So
here
you
can
think
about
us
giving
a
sizable
amount
roughly
around
the
5
million
dollar
range
in
tokens
to
projects
to
ultimately
stand
up
their
own
grants
program.
So
again
it
really
kind
of
decentralizes
our
focus
and
gives
people
the
ability
to
to
provide
capital
there.
The
next
is
our
regional
regional
ecosystem
funds.
These
funds
are
really
going
to
be
focused
around
various
hubs
within
various
parts
of
the
world,
where
we
want
to
basically
support
projects
in
sort
of
the
near
ecosystem.
B
That's
developing
more
in
a
concentrated
fashion
in
those
regions,
so
lisbon
will
be
one
of
those
areas.
As
you
can
see,
it
was
a
lot
of
the
activity
we've
had
here
over
the
last
few
days
and
the
last
one
which
I
know
kendall
spoke
about.
B
So
here
we're
going
to
talk
about
sort
of
what
are
the
funding
platform
channels
and
right
now,
the
best
way
to
describe
them
is
they
fall
into
four
particular
areas.
The
first
is
the
grants
program,
dow
funding,
direct
investment
and
then.
B
B
First,
we'll
talk
about
the
grants
program.
The
grants
program,
as
I
mentioned
before,
is
around
bootstrapping
high
quality
projects
within
the
neuro
ecosystem,
primarily
with
near
tokens.
We
also
give
out
grants
and
stable
coins
in
fiat,
but
focus
on
near
to
really
support
their
growth.
We
have
two
sort
of
channels
that
we
focus
on
there
as
well.
B
Our
fast
grants
program
which
has
been
mentioned
before,
is
really
around
us
being
able
to
provide
grant
capital
up
to
fifty
thousand
dollars
in
near
tokens
within
two
days
of
us,
reviewing
the
project
engaging
with
them
and
then
filling
out
some
very
easy
paperwork
to
ultimately
satisfy
that
grant.
Then
we
have
our
traditional
grants
program,
which
is
really
around
any
grant
from
5
000
up
to
250
000
in
in
value
that
we
look
to
sort
of
go
out
to
the
ecosystem
and
support
projects
and
also
people
interested
in
coming
into
the
ecosystem.
B
In
order
to
apply
for
these,
you
can
go
to
near.org
grants
and
fill
out
our
application
for
our
fast
grants.
There's
folks,
within
our
ecosystem
and
collective,
that
have
the
ability
to
give
those
out
if
you
are
here
at
near
con,
please
reach
out
to
folks
at
the
partnership
ecosystem
floor
at
the
near
table.
Who
can
help
you
talk
through
that
and
provide
those
grants
directly
to
your
project
after
giving
them.
Some
detail
also
feel
free
to
reach
out
to
grants
at
near.foundation
if
you're
interested
as
well.
B
One
of
the
other
things
we're
really
excited
that
we
just
launched
late
yesterday
is
our
refer
and
earn
initiative,
and
what
this
is
really
about
is
basically
giving
people
in
the
ecosystem
the
ability
to
refer
projects
for
grants
and
funding
into
the
near
ecosystem
and
ultimately
earn
up
to
ten
thousand
dollars
in
near
tokens.
And
what
that
really
is
focused
on
is,
if
any
of
you
out.
B
There
know
any
projects
that
maybe
are
building
on
other
chains
or
are
at
the
sort
of
development
stage,
and
you
think
they
would
be
a
great
fit
for
near.
B
Please
please
reach
out
to
us
and
provide
those
details
and
then,
ultimately,
if
they
are,
do
receive
a
grant,
you'll
be
able
to
receive
tokens
corresponding
to
that
grant
size.
We're
really
excited
about
this
program,
we're
going
to
be
talking
about
it,
a
lot
more
throughout
the
rest
of
the
conference
and
then
beyond.
So
keep
an
eye
out
for
that.
B
So
just
wanted
to
kind
of
quickly
touch
here
on
sort
of
where
are
the
areas
of
focus
for
us
as
it
relates
to
the
grants
program,
and
these?
This
is
not
inclusive
of
everything.
We
are
very
open
to
all
ideas
coming
in,
but
these
are
the
ones
that
are
really
a
focus
for
us
right
now,
so
infrastructure
tools
and
features,
so
you
can
think
of
this,
such
as
wallets
on-ramp,
off-ramp
solutions,
things
of
that
sort,
any
and
all
aurora
integrations.
B
We
really
are
focused
on
supporting
the
aurora
team
as
they're
standing
up
the
bridge
and
having
teams
integrate
so
try.
Solaris
was
a
perfect
example
of
that
type
of
grant
and
team
native
products
and
projects
focused
on
ecosystem
development.
So
again,
this
is
around
games
any
type
of
nft
projects
or
creative
endeavors.
All
of
those
kind
of
fall
into
this
bucket.
We're
also
focused
on
marketplaces,
especially
around
nft,
so
any
types
of
opportunities
that
may
relate
to
a
particular
type
of
creative
art
or
modality
of
art
or.
B
Region,
we
have
several
projects
like
that
already
that
we're
funding
and
excited
about
and
the
last
one
is
educational
content,
programming
and
initiatives.
So
we
have
an
education
team
here.
Shashi
is,
I
know
around
the
event
and
others,
but
we're
really
focused
on
anyone
developing
content
related
to
giving
people
guidance
around
the
newer
ecosystem
in
a
broad
way
or
directly,
around
rust,
providing
support
both
in
grants
and
then
also
advisory
around
those
those
opportunities.
B
So
next
we're
going
to
talk
about
dow
funding,
so
dow
funding
is
a
fairly
new
one
for
us
and
it
relates
to
sputnik
dal,
v2
and
astrodale.
B
Launching
so
with
these
two
launching
and
as
jordan
had
mentioned
before,
we
have
200
plus
currently
dows
that
are
in
our
ecosystem,
with
a
hundred
of
those
or
so
being
active
on
a
monthly
basis,
and
one
of
the
things
we
really
are
now
focusing
on
is
investing
directly
into
those
dows
and
really
kind
of
giving
those
teams
the
capital
they
need
to
start
to
foster
their
community
and
sort
of
move
against
their
various
strategies.
B
And
one
of
the
things
that
we're
really
excited
about
is
not
just
necessarily
investing
in
dowels
that
are
natively
built
on
near,
but
also
looking
at
daos
and
other
ecosystems
that
we
want
to
support
that.
Ultimately,
we
can
see
some
cross-pollination
or
some
projects
that
can
really
sort
of
traverse
across.
So
we're
really
excited
about
that,
and
here
the
focus
is
submit
your
proposals
in
the
near
form.
There's
a
how-to
guide
here
with
the
link
so
in
the
near
verse,
definitely
reach
out
there.
B
But
if
you
want
to
sort
of
talk
through
this
directly,
I
know
david
from
our
community
team
is
here
floating
around
and
he'll
be
upstairs
to
talk
about
as
well
as
members
of
our
ecosystem
success
team.
So
we're
really
excited
about
this
and
ultimately
want
to
support
dowse
as
they
grow
and
scale
in
our
ecosystem.
B
The
next
one
I'll
touch
on
briefly
is
direct
investment,
and
the
way
to
think
about
this
is
that
the
foundation,
as
we've
saw
before
with
the
800
million
ecosystem
fund,
wants
to
take
a
portion
of
that
capital
and
invest
directly
in
projects
from
an
equity
funding
standpoint.
So
you
can
think
about
this
as
basically
the
foundation
acting
as
a
venture
capital
investor.
One
of
the
important
things
to
note
is
that
we're
a
passive
investor
for
us.
B
B
So
for
this,
this
is
really
ties
quite
closely
to
our
ecosystem.
Success
team,
which
presented
just
now
and
the
focus
here,
is
that
we
have
a
pretty
strong
network
of
venture
capital
firms
that
are
already
actively
engaged
in
the
ecosystem
interested
in
reviewing
and
meeting
projects,
and
we
really
want
to
continue
to
cultivate
those
relationships.
B
So
right
now
we
have
over
85
vcs
that
we're
actively
in
dialogue
with
and
have
come
and
engaged
with
projects
on
a
regular
basis,
and
what
we
really
want
to
do
is
make
sure
that
projects
that
are
building
on
near
or
engaged
in
our
ecosystem
are
able
to
work
with
those
vcs
at
the
right
time
when
they're
ready
to
raise
capital.
So
we're
really
focused
on
providing
those
introductions
giving
support
to
these
teams
as
they're
developing
pitch
materials
and,
ultimately
putting
them
in
a
position
to
succeed
as
they're
raising
funding
externally.
B
One
of
the
things
we're
really
focused
on
is
helping
our
projects
get
to
that
next
stage,
as
was
noted
before
by
ilia,
and
I'm
sure
eric
will
talk
about
it
a
bit
later
today,
as
we've
had
projects
in
our
ecosystem,
raise
over
50
million
dollars
already
with
only
one
year
on
main
net
in
terms
of
external
funding
acro,
and
we
have
many
more
announcements
coming
soon.
So
we're
very
much
excited
about
this
as
a
goal
for
our
ecosystem,
and
ultimately
this
is
a
joint
effort
between
the
funding
team
and
our
ecosystem.
Success
team.
B
C
B
Like
while
you're
networking-
yes
it's
actually,
I
was
reviewing
that
this
eve
this
past
evening,
we've
had
a
couple
dozen
grants
go
out
already
since
we've
been
here,
so
the
activity's
been
great,
I
think,
there's
multiple
folks
wearing
neocon,
shirts
and
or
members
of
our
community
that
are
already
talking
to
projects
and
sort
of
providing
grants
and
and
for
us,
it's
really
again
around
sort
of
that
distributed
focus.
We
don't
want
the
foundation
to
be
sort
of
the
go-between
for
all
of
these
grants.
D
Thank
you
so
much
and
yeah,
and
also
or
we'd
like
to
support
more
asian
activity
on
here.
B
Yes,
so
we
have
a
team,
that's
based
in
mainland
china.
That's
been
doing
a
lot
of
work.
B
We
actually
had
a
near
con
event
going
on
in
shanghai
this
week,
which
is
well
attended,
and
I
know
that
there's
some
materials
and
sort
of
details
on
that
that
have
been
shown
on
twitter
and
our
blog,
but
ultimately
that
team
has
been
sort
of
figuring
out
what
are
going
to
be
those
sub-regions
within
asia,
where
we'll
be
standing
up
those
sort
of
ecosystem
funds
so
more
to
come
there
we
haven't
decided
on
those
specific
areas
yet,
but
if
we
can,
we
can
chat
separately
and
sort
of
talk
through
what
that
looks
like.