By
Mayowa Adebajo
May 17th, 2024
The seed grant program will focus on projects associated with Starknet that have already reached the MVP or proof-of-concept stage.
Starknet Foundation, the nonprofit organization overseeing the blockchain protocol, has rolled out a $5 million seed grant program to foster the growth of its ecosystem. This initiative is designed to support software developers actively building on the blockchain protocol.
According to a report, with a keen focus on innovation, the Foundation aims to provide financial support to approximately 200 teams operating within Starknet. The protocol is an Ethereum-based layer-2 scaling solution designed to improve the network’s scalability challenges.
Starknet to Give $25k in USDC to Developers
In a social media post supporting the report, the Foundation said that each project will receive up to $25, 000 in the USDC stablecoin to grow their business offerings.
Introducing the Starknet Seed Grant Program! 🌱
The Seed Grant Program is a new initiative designed to provide teams with grants up to $25,000 in USDC in non-dilutive funding to enhance the growth of the Starknet ecosystem.https://t.co/b1XuqgTfqD pic.twitter.com/8Ux9jTLHNP
— Starknet Foundation (@StarknetFndn) May 7, 2024
Diego Oliva, CEO of Starknet Foundation, explained that the seed grant program will focus on projects associated with Starknet that have already reached the minimum viable product (MVP) or proof-of-concept stage.
However, he clarified that these projects will still need to undergo a selection process, which will allow the organization to carefully review and choose the most suitable candidates.
Oliva also disclosed that the initiative aims to address the ongoing challenges plaguing developers on Starknet. The funds will exclusively back teams with exceptional creativity and vision who genuinely lack the financial means to bring their ideas to life.
“We are talking about people with amazing creativity and vision who need support with that ever-hard ‘last mile’ to get a project over the line and into production. So we responded with this program, which is intended, very directly and with minimal bureaucracy, to address this,” he said.
Over the years, Starknet has garnered significant interest from developers. According to Electric Capital’s 2023 Developer Report, more developers became interested in the Starknet ecosystem in 2023.
In December, the total number of developers building on the platform monthly exceeded 22,400. This figure represents a notable increase of 113% compared to December 2020, when there were only 10,500 developers.
GameFi Takes the Lead on Starknet
Speaking about the project categories with most existing use cases built on Starknet, Oliva said that blockchain gaming is the fastest-growing industry.
According to him, the layer-2 scaling solution already boasts of projects like Realms, Influence, and Dojo with exciting use cases. He further noted that these projects have laid the Foundation for other gaming platforms as many developers in the Starknet ecosystem are already adopting the Dojo standard to build their own networks.
He also emphasized Starknet’s role in pioneering a fully on-chain gaming experience for users.
“Starknet is leading the way in fully on-chain gaming. Gaming is important not just for gamers but for everyone because it’s demanding on the network, testing its capabilities and demonstrating its power,” Oliva said.
The surge in blockchain gaming on Starknet aligns with broader interest in the sector. According to DappRadar data, blockchain gaming represented 35% of total decentralized application activity, with over 2.2 million unique active wallets daily.