New $60M web3 fund from Axelar offers close support from Circle, Polygon & exposure to top investors

The interchain communication protocol, Axelar, has announced a $60M funding program to drive innovation for web3 startups building during the bear market.

“The Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program is designed to nurture a pipeline of developers building Web3 products that rival anything on the centralized web.”

Given the current crypto landscape, such funds are likely to become a lifeline for new developers looking to move into the space as well as early-stage startups in need of funding to survive the Crypto Winter.

Axelar stated that the fund is “geared for projects that are ready to raise institutional capital” while its Axelar Grant Program “supports idea-stage projects.” Applications for the Ecosystem Funding Program can be made through the Axelar funding request form. Those in the “idea stage” can apply for an Axelar grant via the project’s website.

“The Ecosystem Funding Program is investors in our ecosystem focusing on that flow of high-quality interchain projects.”

The announcement revealed that the fund is backed by “crypto-native investment firms” including Blockchange, Chorus One, Collab+Currency, Cygni Capital, dao5, DCVC, Divergence Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Lemniscap, Morningstar Ventures, Nima Capital, Node Capital, North Island Ventures, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, SCB 10X and others.

The new fund is aimed at projects looking to address the following issues:

• Solve global problems that the centralized internet cannot address.
• Safeguard digital sovereignty, security and privacy.
• Onboard masses easily, without unnecessary friction between specific blockchains or tokens.

According to people close to the matter support from Axelar and its partners has already made a difference to the ecosystem.

“A lot of the services come from Axelar and our ecosystem partners. Circle, Polygon, for example: we work closely with them to support new projects in their ecosystems. Building interchain is new even for experienced Web3 devs.

Prime Protocol, a collaborator of Axelar’s, also commented that

“Prime has been collaborating with Axelar for quite some time. We believe the future is multi-chain, and #DeFi needs new financial primitives to increase capital efficiency.”

CryptoSlate spoke with Jason Ma during EthCC where he spoke about the vast opportunities for cross-chain assets such as NFTs through the Axelar network. Watch the full interview here.