Chia Cultivation Grant Program
Chia Network is committed to growing and nurturing the Chia ecosystem in as many ways as possible, not only through applications and functionality we develop but via encouraging our highly engaged community to unleash its creativity within the ecosystem.
We know that members of the community will create amazing open source projects of their own and that some of those projects will very likely stand as pillars of the community and ecosystem.
To that end, in an effort to further support high-potential projects and teams, Chia Networks is excited to announce the launch of the Chia Cultivation Grant program!
People or teams who have caught the eye of Chia’s senior leadership and present a compelling proposal as to why they feel their vision, talent, and expertise are uniquely positioned to add material value to the community are provided modest financial support via this grant program.
Cultivation Grant Winners
Hashgreen DEX
Hashgreen Inc.
Hashgreen is the first decentralized exchange on the Chia Blockchain. The platform enables users to exchange Chia (XCH) and Chia Asset Tokens (CATs) in a secure and anonymous manner. We aggregate open offers in an order book to improve efficiency and provide trade histories for price transparency. By integrating with the official Chia light wallet, Hashgreen offers you a seamless experience where trading only takes a mere few clicks.
nucle.io
Emergent Coin Inc.
Nucle is the world’s first open source based, fully decentralized Chia blockchain “SPV” type wallet. Nucle gives you instant access to your XCH via your Recovery Phrases, instead of waiting days to sync to the Chia blockchain to access your funds or storing your crypto on a centralized exchange. Your Recovery Phrases are never at risk because they are stored locally on your device and never on our servers (because it’s decentralized!).
+12 more Projects!
(Multiple new projects launching soon!)+12 more projects!
By various community devs.
With over a dozen grant recipients currently heads-down in development as of Q4 2022, the Chia ecosystem has a lot of great projects launching over the coming months that we’re looking to add to this page as each project nears the finish line!
How to Apply
If you have a team with a project vision you think would be a potential candidate for a Grant, you can reach out to us at cultivation@chia.net.
For a grant application to reach the approval process stage within the Grant Committee, it needs to present a project plan for a product that you feel will elevate the Chia Ecosystem and further the growth and adoption of the technology. This plan must include the following:
1. A background on your team
2. A full summary of the proposed product or idea
3. A breakdown of deliverable milestones and timelines
4. Fiscal breakdown of the Grant request and how it will be applied to #3
5. A summary of the product plan post-launch and how you plan to sustain the project beyond grant funding.
A good rule of thumb is, approach the grant submission like you would if pitching investors!
Take Note!
Due to the volume of applications and interest, we cannot guarantee we will be able to follow up with all applicants individually and will be prioritizing those who present a fully fleshed out in-depth proposal that incorporates not only a solid idea but milestones, fiscal and resource budgets, team information, etc.
Additionally, efforts to contact Chia Network Leadership directly to seek updates on a grant application outside of the communications flow with the grant team may result in adverse disruption of the grant approval process.
Also please note the grant process is not a short one. We typically process submissions in batches roughly every 8 to 12 weeks. Once a Grant has been approved, expect to work with us for another 2-4 weeks hashing out the associated paperwork. Once the paperwork is completed, anticipate another ~30 – 45 days before the initial grant payment(s) are made.
Is Chia paying out the grant in XCH and/or from the Strategic Reserve?
No. Chia has a solid footing of funding, which is used to run the company day to day and also to pay for activities such as these in fiat USD. As always, you can track the Strategic Reserve here: Chia Network pre-farm tracker
Who decides which applicants get the grant?
The Chia Cultivation Grant is managed by a Committee made up of several key executives at Chia Network with experience in this space and a vision towards what kinds of projects will further grow the Chia ecosystem. They collectively review and discuss the various proposals sent in that meet the baseline requirements, and work with the applicants to administer the grant funding when chosen. The day to day administration of things like communications, in-bound proposal filtering, and other miscellaneous logistics, are overseen by the Ecosystem team.
How much money is given out to recipients of the grant?
There is no fixed amount, but we aim to stay within a range of $30k to $250k per grant. However, we don’t focus on a specific target and instead we look at the applications given to us, the amount asked for, how it is proposed to be used, and work from there to find a practical amount that helps the team reach their goals without them being entirely dependent on us for continued success.
How long does the grant application process take?
We typically process submissions and hold a review for those who pass the first two gates roughly every 2-3 months (once a Quarter generally). After acceptance, you can expect a 2-4 week window of time to hash out the legal paperwork, depending on complexity and questions between your legal advisors and ours. After that, upon signing the first grant payments are typically made between 30 and 45 days after signing. As a result, a grant that is accepted can potentially result in initial payments taking as long as ~4 months from first submission, so please manage expectations accordingly.
Is there a limit to how many recipients can be awarded Grants or a maximum that will be given out?
No. At this time we do not have a fixed dollar amount to cap, nor do we have a limit on the number of recipients we will award a Grant to.
What is required to submit a grant application?
While there is no specific checklist of criteria, we focus on proposals that are well thought out and have a fleshed out vision and roadmap. Think of the application process as similar to pitching a startup idea to seed investors… We’d like to see in-depth proposals that incorporate not only a solid idea, but milestones, fiscal and resource budgets, team background information, contingency plans, go to market strategies, post launch support plans, etc.
Are grants awarded on a rolling basis, or is there a limited application window every year?
Grants are awarded as-needed. We constantly review submissions and organic interactions we have with people in the ecosystem to look for potential recipients. We award Grants any time we feel we have found a great team and idea.
What are the technical requirements for applicants (i.e. free, open source, etc…)?
We require that the fundamental core product released by the grant be open source and compatible with the Apache 2.0 license, however, we understand that we are investing in people and ideas that want to improve the ecosystem long term, which generally means helping create a viable, self-sustaining venture. To that end, we understand that a revenue model is key to this success and are comfortable with recipients creating “premium” experiences as a commercial product to extend beyond the core products we funded.
Can I submit multiple applications?
A person or organization can submit as many applications as they like, but do note that due to volume we can’t respond to every application that doesn’t meet the threshold for further communications. Please do not submit the same submission repeatedly. We do encourage you to resubmit ideas with improved supporting documentation and planning if it will help elevate your original application to a higher quality!