The Stacks Accelerator, a three-month mentorship program for building decentralized applications (dApps) on Bitcoin, today announced 25 investments across verticals such as privacy, decentralized finance (DeFi), sustainability, incentive rewards, music/art, and fertility. The Stacks Accelerator supports startups developing a user-owned internet built on Bitcoin with Stacks.
Out of hundreds of applicants, 25 startups had been selected for the Stacks Accelerator’s inaugural batch. The cross-section of applications in development is expansive, covering enhanced private communications, DeFi on Bitcoin, NFT discovery and marketplaces, art provenance, censorship resistance, the chain of custody verification, and next-generation rewards applications.
Projects
For instance, Pravica provides peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted communications without asking for any personally identifiable information. Arkadiko empowers DeFi on Bitcoin via Stacks using a non-custodial liquidity protocol to mint stablecoins, help users earn interest, and borrow assets.
Starting in India and expanding overseas, GoSats allows users to receive “satoshis,” the smallest unit of bitcoin, instead of cashback. Moon brings the ‘living on bitcoin’ dream a step closer to reality by letting users instantly convert a specified amount of bitcoin to USD and load it onto a KYC-free VISA card.
Eggschain, which has a patent for tracking embryos, organs, and tissues via blockchain, is bringing a secure and verifiable chain of custody to life’s most precious assets, protecting rightful custodians against malicious actors who can (and do) modify ownership records through bribery or other means.
“The variety of decentralized applications being built highlights the incredible talent that Stacks attracts because of its mission and leading-edge technology. In my 10+ years of advising and investing in early-stage companies, the quality of the founders that we’ve attracted is among the best I’ve ever worked with.”
– Stacks Accelerator Managing Partner, Trevor Owens
The Stacks Accelerator gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to get hands-on coaching from Stacks specialists, veteran investors, and mentors including Anthony Pompliano and Eric Ries. The accelerator offers support in a variety of ways, from lean startup workshops to help find a precise product-market fit to branding, marketing, legal, and growth hacking assistance.
In July and September, the companies will demo their products and services over two days in front of more than 100 investors, including the likes of Digital Currency Group, USV, and Fenbushi Capital.
The full list of companies in this cohort is below:
- ALEX – collateralized lending
- Arkadiko – creation of stablecoins, liquidity protocol
- BlockSurvey – surveys/forms collection without BlockSurvey having access to collected data
- BlockTech – higher education diplomas as NFTs to combat diploma fraud and showcase the value of blockchain to Pakistani government
- Bransfer – radically lower fees and faster speeds for BTC transfers between exchanges
- CryptoMate – a DEX for Stacks focused on South America
- Eggschain – inventory management and immutable chain of custody for bio specimens
- Glowcase – get paid for discovering great NFTs
- GoSats – get cash back rewards as you shop, but in Bitcoin
- HireVibes – a job postings/discovery site for Web 3.0
- Layer – easy art storage and organization, and one-click NFT minting
- Lucidefi – a DEX for Stacks focused on Asia
- Momento – a TikTok for NFTs
- Moon – instant, KYC-free conversion of BTC into USD-loaded VISA cards
- NovumInsights – yield farming / robo advisor
- OBY – a suite of decentralized finance (DeFi) products on Stacks
- Open Art Source – AI-backed provenance for physical art, VR art galleries, and an art marketplace with blockchain-secured ownership records
- Pravica – peer-to-peer, end-to-end encrypted chat and email apps that don’t ask for any personal data to open an account
- Rcrdshp / Let The Music Pay – music NFTs as collectibles, focused on festivals and DJs
- Redeemable – a marketplace for NFTs that are convertible to special access or interactions with NFT issuer
- Risidio – a pro-artist NFT marketplace working with DeadMau5, Cara Delavingne, Chemical X, and others
- SEEK – a marketplace for gigs where gig workers own their data, history, reviews, etc.
- Sigle – a blogging site where users, not the site, own their posts/data
- Sustainable Bitcoin Standard – carbon credits system and certifications for BTC miners
- TontineTrust – a tontine pension fund with transparent accounting on blockchain