Summary
It was an eventful week for the Grants Program. Below are the key highlights:
- Textile announced the launch of the bridge between NEAR and Filecoin this week via two blog posts (link / link)
- Kicked off formal search for 3 new hires
- 2 Part-time technical reviewers & 1 FTE Operations Associate (Please reach to Josh Daniels w/ any referrals!!)
- We made some significant adjustments to how we review grants in our pipeline which should help us build velocity in issuing grants
Results
- 2 new grants signed this week for $100K in committed capital
- $63,000 in deployed capital to 3 grants this week
- 4 new grant applications
-
Bi-weekly pipeline
- Tech Reviews / Interviews: 25
- Contract Negotiations: 3
- Reworked grants workflow to unlock accelerated deal velocity in pipeline
Challenges & Blockers
- Continue to deal with issues related to support for technical reviews
- Continue to improve coordination related to invoicing but remains a point of friction
- Coordinating with NF Operations on a plan to improve
Action Items
- Meeting with other funding teams (OWC, Asian Investments, Community DAO) next week to discuss strategy, operations, and plans for improvement
- Kicking off a outreach effort with ecosystem success to cultivate stronger relationships with a group of ~15 existing grantees
