Please describe your proposed solution

Overview: Create a starting fund to provide early seed investments for vetted projects building on Cardano. The goal is to invest in these projects early, support them through Jellypad services, and reinvest profits from token gains into new projects, demonstrating a proof of concept with a smaller initial fund.

Problem: Many promising projects on Cardano struggle to secure the initial capital needed to progress to their token sale. Unlike other blockchain ecosystems, Cardano lacks a strong presence of venture capital (VC) or seed investors. This forces projects to rush their token sales, often leading to less polished products, higher risks for investors, and reduced fundraising potential. These projects don’t always need a large amount of funding but frequently find it difficult to raise even small seed amounts.

Solution: Obtain a small seed fund from Catalyst to invest in a few upcoming, community-approved, and team-vetted projects. These funds will help projects reach a more stable stage before launching their token sale. Profits from these early seed investments will be reinvested into new projects, bringing more attention to Cardano and attracting more VCs. Additionally, 25% of profits will go to the management team responsible for vetting and supporting these projects.

Our focus will be on innovative new ideas building on Cardano, particularly projects already receiving support through our Jellypad Agency, as we have a stronger influence on their chances of success.

While 150,000 ADA is a modest amount for a fund, we aim to demonstrate the potential of this model and fine-tune the process with a smaller budget before scaling it up to a larger amount.

Outcome: More projects will receive crucial early funding, allowing them to further develop before launching their token sale. This reduces risk for investors, alleviates pressure on founders, and attracts more users and VCs to the Cardano ecosystem.

Why Catalyst: A starting fund is essential to invest in these early-stage projects and provide them with the resources they need to succeed before their token sales.

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Many early-stage Cardano projects only need a small amount of funding to extend their timeline and deliver a polished product. Often, these projects struggle to secure the necessary funds and are forced to rush their token sales. Unlike other chains where dApps are live for months before launching a token, Cardano projects often release tokens during or before testnet. This leads to higher risks and less polished products, as the dApp is not fully developed.

Cardano lacks the strong VC interest seen in other ecosystems, forcing projects to launch their tokens earlier than ideal. This results in reduced fundraising, higher risks of poor token performance, and a greater chance of failing to deliver the final product.

We believe a seed fund can address this issue by providing projects with the runway they need to delay token sales and focus on building. Our experience with the Alpha Group and our network, especially through our marketing and advising work, positions us well to accurately assess and support these projects. By creating a self-sustaining fund, we can help projects reach maturity and increase their chances of success.

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

We believe we can execute effectively on several key fronts. First, through our nearly 3-year cross-chain alpha group with Jellycubes, we’ve gained extensive experience in identifying what works—and what doesn’t—across various blockchains. Our founder is uniquely positioned, running his own project while also covering others through the alpha group and YouTube channel, giving us access to a wealth of experienced individuals who can spot opportunities.

Additionally, we have strong synergy with our other agencies under Jellypad, including marketing, advising, design, and content/ambassador services. This means we don’t just fund projects—we actively support them in other critical areas, significantly increasing their chances of success and ensuring the seed fund remains profitable for reinvestment.

We provide a holistic approach we call FAM: Funding, Advising, and Marketing—which also covers essential design work and ambassador outreach.

The reason for creating this fund is simple: many of the projects we’re already working with face this exact issue. They need a bit more runway to deliver quality products, and we’re in the best position to help them succeed.

What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1: A: Milestone outputs

• Seed invest into 1 Cardano Project

B: Acceptance criteria

• Project must be on Cardano
• Project must already have an MVP and Public team
• a Minimum of 25k ADA must be invested
• FDV of Seed Round must be lower than 10m ADA
• Cliff of investment is a max of 3 months
• Vest of investment is a max of 12 months

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Analysis report of the project and why we invested in them
• Transaction Scan Link Submission
• Clear details of the tokenomics and vesting schedule
• Signed Legal Contract between the Fund and Project

Milestone 2: A: Milestone outputs

• Seed invest into 2 Cardano Projects

B: Acceptance criteria

• Projects must be on Cardano
• Projects must already have an MVP and Public team
• a Minimum of 25k ADA must be invested
• FDV of Seed Rounds must be lower than 10m ADA
• Cliff of investments is a max of 3 months
• Vest of investments is a max of 12 months

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Analysis reports of the projects and why we invested in them
• Transaction Scan Link Submissions
• Clear details of the tokenomics and vesting schedules
• Signed Legal Contracts between the Fund and Projects

Milestone 3: A: Milestone outputs

• Seed invest into 3 Cardano Projects

B: Acceptance criteria

• Projects must be on Cardano
• Projects must already have an MVP and Public team
• a Minimum of 25k ADA must be invested
• FDV of Seed Rounds must be lower than 10m ADA
• Cliff of investments is a max of 3 months
• Vest of investments is a max of 12 months

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Analysis reports of the projects and why we invested in them
• Transaction Scan Link Submissions
• Clear details of the tokenomics and vesting schedules
• Signed Legal Contracts between the Fund and Projects

Final Milestone: A: Milestone outputs

• Seed invest into 4 Cardano Projects

B: Acceptance criteria

• Projects must be on Cardano
• Projects must already have an MVP and Public team
• a Minimum of 25k ADA must be invested
• FDV of Seed Rounds must be lower than 10m ADA
• Cliff of investments is a max of 3 months
• Vest of investments is a max of 12 months

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Analysis reports of the projects and why we invested in them
• Transaction Scan Link Submissions
• Clear details of the tokenomics and vesting schedules
• Signed Legal Contracts between the Fund and Projects

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Jason Borck (Founder, Project Relationship, Analysis, Team Organization, Content Production): https://x.com/jason_borck

Thomas (Marketing Strategy & Video Editing Production): https://x.com/Thomas__BIG

Blockowls (Animations): https://x.com/BlockOwls

Berjador (Illustrator): https://x.com/Berjador05

Salman (Graphics & Video): https://x.com/salllvision

GnD (Graphics & Branding): https://x.com/itsgnds

Waiqh (Website UI/UX Studio): https://www.behance.net/designhouse9

Smurfy (Marketing Strategy, Writing, and Design Suggestions): https://x.com/smurfythewriter

Sic (Marketing Strategy, Writing, and Design Suggestions): https://x.com/Sic2336

Jezus (Project Manager): https://x.com/SolidJezus

Jieun (Collab Manager): https://x.com/JieunCrypto

Ozzi (Collab Manager): https://x.com/Just_Ozzi

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Fund Wallet for Projects: ~125k ADA

Fund Management Team: ~25k ADA

No dependencies

How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

We believe this fund will be self-sustaining, with profits from initial seed rounds reinvested into future projects, enabling continuous support for new initiatives on Cardano. Given our experience, connections, and synergetic services, we are confident we’re in the best position to execute this at the highest level.

By helping projects reach a more advanced stage before token sales, we can improve the quality of products within the ecosystem, reduce the risk of undelivered or incomplete projects, and ultimately attract more users who will have greater confidence in the ecosystem.