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After the successful launch of the launch accelerator for Asia, Algorand, together with Eterna and Borderless Capital funds, decided to open a similar accelerator in Europe.
Algorand Europe Accelerator is the first European start-up accelerator for developers and entrepreneurs building on Algoranda. It will fund and support founders with a passion to build promising decentralized applications on the Algorand platform.
In this article, I will look at this accelerator, as well as what other projects have so far been funded under accelerators in the Algorand ecosystem, and who a few words about who is behind this accelerator and what support entrepreneurs can expect.
The accelerator was launched on October 15, 2020 and accepts applications until December 18, 2020, currently looking for 10 interesting projects that would receive funds for their first steps in this area. Algorand Europe Accelerator is to stimulate the development of the Algorand platform, in particular synergies with finance 3.0. Interesting projects are those that will not only cleverly use the capabilities of the Algorand platform in this area, but above all will develop business models that will revolutionize Fintech. Selected projects will receive $ 15 in pre-financing, and then in subsequent rounds they can apply for $ 000 from both Borderless Capital and Eterna Capital.
Program framework
Selected projects will start their work from February 2021, in the program, which will last 12 weeks (roadmap below) and will receive support in formulating strategies, introducing solutions to the market, but also receiving technology mentoring, mentoring in the field of token economy or in the area of marketing.
This is where the power of this type of accelerator appears in the picture, i.e. business network, mentors and partner relations.
Mentoring Program
At the beginning, it is probably worth noting that the co-author of the program is Eterna Capital, a team that largely derives from BlackRock in its roots.
BlackRock is an American global investment management corporation based in New York. BlackRock is the world's largest asset management fund, currently valued at $ 7,400,000,000,000 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019. BlackRock operates globally with 70 offices in 30 countries and customers in 100 countries. Due to its power and the size and scope of its financial assets and operations, BlackRock has been named the world's largest shadow banking.
Eterna Capital is an independent fund, but it is probably worth keeping in mind that founders have a strong background in such endeavors, which may be of value in terms of mentoring for selected starts.
Algorand Europe Accelerator has engaged mentors who excel in various fields and disciplines, from companies such as Props (YouNow), Securitize, Generalior even Amazon Web Services.
The accelerator was created on the basis of the success of Eterna Borderless Venture Studio, an initiative launched in April 2020, where 7 projects have already started in a similar venture.
Before I go any further, it's probably also worth adding that in the Eterna Capital portfolio, beyond Algorand and Borderless Capital, we also have projects such as Dfinity which I also discuss on my YouTube channel.
How does it look in practice?
Generally, at the time of writing this article, there are still about 2 months to submit the application (from October 15, 2020 to December 18, 2020), so teams that have already thought out their solution in the context of meshing it with the blockchain probably should not have problem.
After getting into the accelerator, the project receives support in the following areas:
- Financing,
- Partner and mentor networks,
- Go to Market and scaling,
- Technical support for Algorand and a broader look at the tech stack.
Here, let me outline a roadmap for projects that will be successfully verified and will receive funding. The chosen ones will start their work in the beginning of February 2021 from the phase shape, a the entire program will last until May 2021.
SHAPE PHASE
Project teams will be combined with the most appropriate group of mentors relevant to the industry and the problem they are trying to solve. The team will also be familiarized with the Algorand platform and introduced to the program. The aim is formulation of the target business modelthat will be compatible with the problem that the team is trying to address, and at the same time will be compatible with the long-term vision of the Algorand ecosystem.
BUILD PHASE
We go to work. A prototype solution must be built. The team will receive support from technological partners, both in the area of blockchain and in the area of typical technologies, so as to fit tech into a wider vision of what Algorand is building in the context of an economy without borders. Of course, much of the work in the BUILD phase is in the hands of the team that applied for support. This phase lasts a month and should deliver something tangible and functional.
GROW PHASE
Here, in turn, the team will be presented to Algorand's business partners in order to optimize success when it comes to G2M. GROW is scheduled for April and will focus on that how to win the product marketthat was built.
DEMO-DAY
Demo Day is the end of April 2021 = that is the presentation, conclusions, next steps.
POST PROGRAMME
In May, after the end of the main cycle of the program, we move on to POST PROGRAMME that is, all kinds follow-up with projectsthat would get funding for the further development of their prototypes.
What is already under construction under Algorand?
I think it is worth showing here what kind of projects have been funded under a similar accelerator in Asia. Not only is it an interesting hint on what those interested can pay attention to, but I think it is also interesting information about what is being built on the basis of Algorand 🙂
Of course, this is only a subset of the Algorand ecosystem, see more use-cases here.
- StackerDAOa platform for managing financial assets in a decentralized, secure and compliant manner,
- MugglepayPayment SDK for online merchants that eliminates chargebacks and enables crypto-based global payment transactions,
- DEXTFan asset management protocol that enables financial professionals and institutions to easily create and manage native funds digitally,
- Neutron Financee, a comprehensive portal with a full set of DeFi products and services, including DEX,
- xBullion, a global clearing layer of physical gold, enabling users to access the largest physical markets in the world, without fixed storage fees, thanks to blockchain,
- LawCoin, the world's first blockchain platform for tokenized investments in litigation and legal claims,
- Obsidian Labs, tools and services for developers to make programming on various blockchains easier, including the launch of Algorand dev studio,
- Eastern Blu Music Ecosystem, a public royalty registration, licensing and distribution system for various players in the music industry,
- VeriTX, e-commerce marketplace for Industry 4.0, a solution aimed at improving trade for digital and physical assets. Focused on the aviation and medical industries (e.g. fast reprinting of broken parts thanks to 3D printing)
- Yeldy Finance, a decentralized platform enabling immediate payments for goods and services as part of retail purchases in the buy now, but pay later model,
As you can see, these are often quite bold and innovative ideas that can already boast some stage of advancement in terms of work progress.
What's next..
Building real-world adoption for digital solutions requires not only a great solution that is 10 times better to some extent than what we know today. It also requires thinking about how to reach the end user with such a solution, how to communicate to the world that we have done something super interesting. Of course, for our application (whatever it is) to be interesting, such a solution not only has to be attractive in terms of functionality and user interface, but also in the context of the business model and monetization method, it should bring something new. Usually, adoption is also helped by the fact that we connect our platform, our application with a wider ecosystem of other solutions, not as if stimulating the network effect and feeding the user base through links with other solutions. These are all things that a single company, especially a startup that starts its adventure with, is incredibly difficult to do on its own. Hence, technological accelerators, or incubators for startups, are an additional engine fueling the development of new ventures. I am curious what will also result in Algorand Europe Accelerator in this respect.
By the way .. If the topic interested you ..
I suggest watching the video below, in which I develop this topic even more broadly, discussing individual projects with Asia Accelerator, but also previous projects funded by Eterna Capital
