17 Alliance DAO Demo Day Startup Crypto Projects at a Glance
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17 Alliance DAO Demo Day Startup Crypto Projects at a Glance
Many teams are researching improvements to cryptocurrency themes, such as physical proof of work, user wallet experience, product-driven protocols, cryptocurrency B2B products, on-chain data, and verticalization.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights
Written by: Jacquelyn Melinek
Translated by: TechFlow
Alliance DAO's "Demo Day" event took place amid the FTX collapse on Wednesday, yet we still saw many promising new crypto startups emerge.
"The current situation is actually worse than the 2018 bear market," said Qiao Wang, core contributor at Alliance DAO, referring to Binance’s plan to absorb rival FTX. "Everyone was caught off guard today—including myself... Working closely over the past three months with founders from our All9 program has rekindled my hope. It's people like them who will gradually push our industry forward."
All9 is a Web3 accelerator and builder community under Alliance DAO that showcased some of its standout ideas during Wednesday’s Demo Day.
Twice a year, Alliance DAO invites Web3 founders to participate in a three-month program. To date, Alliance DAO alumni have created more than $10 billion in market capitalization. The program received around 953 applications this cycle, but only 17 teams were selected and graduated from the program.
Wang said many teams are working on improving key themes in crypto such as physical proof-of-work, user wallet experiences, product-driven protocols, B2B crypto products, on-chain data, and vertical-specific solutions.
"The participating projects serve as a fairly representative sample of what's happening across the entire industry."
Projects focused on a range of sub-industries and products within Web3, including identity verification, liquid staking, crypto wallets, and decentralized machine learning. Approximately 38% of the startups are focused on the Ethereum ecosystem, followed by Polygon at 21%, and Solana at 17%.
Mentors include:
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Colleen Sullivan, Co-Head of Venture Investing at Brevan Howard Digital;
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Mike Dudas, Founder of LinksDAO and The Block, and investor at Sixth Horizon Ventures;
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Anatoly Yakovenko, Co-Founder of Solana;
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Ryan Selkis, Founder and CEO of Messari;
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Mounir Benchemled, Founder of ParaSwap;
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Amir Bandeali, Co-CEO of 0x Labs;
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and Ryan Wyatt, CEO of Polygon Studios.
Here are detailed introductions to these 17 startup projects:
Project Name: Ora
Product Focus: Web3 Search Engine
Founders: Dennis Antela Martinez, Sanny Kim, Jacob Shiohira
Round: Seed
As the ecosystem expands, Ora is building a search engine for Web3, co-founder Jacob Shiohira said during his presentation. “Blockchain data is confusing—we can see that reflected in today’s browsers.” He added that for crypto to go mainstream, products must be understandable to everyone. Ora aims to combine a search engine, dashboard, and explorer into one interface. Initially serving Solana, Ora plans to expand across Web3.
Project Name: Mensari
Product Focus: QuickBooks for Web3
Founders: Vidur Jain, Manuj Paliwal
Round: Seed
Mensari aims to help businesses engaging with Web3 through its own QuickBooks-like platform. As organizations integrate cryptocurrency, their accounting complexity “skyrockets,” co-founder Vidur Jain said during his talk. Mensari has built a double-entry bookkeeping system offering operational and portfolio accounting tailored to Web3-native entities, covering asset swaps, payment streams, NFTs, and liquidity provision. The platform operates on Ethereum and Polygon blockchains and currently has 15 pilot customers.
Project Name: Tensor
Product Focus: NFT Aggregator Focused on Solana
Founders: Richard Wu, Ilja Moisejevs
Round: Seed
Tensor aims to build an NFT aggregator centered on Solana. Ilja Moisejevs said during his presentation that current NFT markets cater to retail investors rather than traders. As more professionals enter the NFT space, they need more sophisticated tools. Tensor aims to better serve Solana-based NFT traders so they can “execute hundreds of trades across eight major markets with just one click.”
Project Name: Raleon
Product Focus: Web3 Marketing Analytics
Founders: Nathan Snell, Adam Larson
Round: Seed
Raleon brings a marketing analytics tool to Web3. Current marketing technologies aren't suited for Web3 tools or combining on-chain and off-chain data, so improvements are needed to account for new tech, co-founder Nathan Snell said. Raleon combines blockchain data with Web 2.0 data to create a “rich identity,” enabling projects to target Web3 users effectively. The platform is seeking strategic investors to help acquire clients.
Project Name: Spexigon
Product Focus: Physical Proof-of-Work via Drone Imagery
Founders: Adam Killam, Peter Szymczak, Bill Lakeland, Alec Wilson
Round: Seed
Spexigon is a physical proof-of-work platform using drone imagery, where drone owners earn cryptocurrency by capturing images—a “fly-to-earn” rewards system. Once algorithms verify the images and transfer them to a marketplace for consumption by enterprises and developers, pilots are rewarded with tokens. After generating interest from government agencies, engineering firms, and railway companies, the platform has generated over $1.5 million in revenue over the past eight months. It has raised $5.5 million in seed funding, with participation from Alliance DAO, Dapper Labs, and others.
Project Name: SlashAuth
Product Focus: Web3 Authentication
Founders: Ned Rockson, Nicolas Salhuana
Round: Pre-seed
SlashAuth is a Web3 authentication platform designed to help developers create secure, distributed identities across both Web2 and Web3 ecosystems. Co-founder Nicolas Salhuana said it cryptographically unifies identity layers so users can access all their accounts with a single login. Currently in closed beta, SlashAuth has raised $3 million from investors including Alliance DAO and Y Combinator.
Project Name: Stride
Product Focus: Liquid Staking for Cosmos
Founders: Riley Edmunds, Aidan Salzmann, Vishal Talasani
Round: Seed
Stride is building a liquid staking platform for the Layer 1 blockchain Cosmos. Users swap their tokens for Stride’s ST tokens, which are then staked on their behalf and usable across the Cosmos DeFi ecosystem. Co-founder Vishal Talasani said the platform launched eight weeks ago, has secured $7 million in total value locked, generates $150,000 in recurring revenue, and serves over 8,000 users. Stride has raised $6.7 million from investors including Pantera, Distributed Global, North Island Ventures, 1confirmation, and Staking Facilities. It is now seeking LP commitments in exchange for Stride tokens.
Project Name: Ethos
Product Focus: Crypto Wallet for Sui
Founders: Nadia Eldeib, Jared Cosulich
Round: Seed
Ethos is a “super-app wallet” for the Sui blockchain. Co-founder Nadia Eldeib said the wallet offers Web 2.0-like features such as email-based login, allowing developers to deliver better user experiences. The wallet supports an on-chain game where Ethos users can pre-approve transactions via their wallet. Since launching last month, its Chrome extension wallet sees over 32,000 weekly users. Ethos has raised $2.4 million from FTX, Tribe Capital, and Mysten Labs.
Project Name: Chain ML
Product Focus: Decentralized Machine Learning
Founders: David Müller, Ethan Jackson, Ron Bodkin
Round: Seed
Chain ML is a decentralized machine learning platform enabling smart contracts and dApps to leverage ML without compromising censorship resistance, tamper-proofing, or availability. It uses decentralized databases, oracles, and compute networks to ensure resilience against censorship. Chain ML recently raised $4 million in a seed round led by iOS G, with its MVP set to launch in Q1 2023.
Project Name: Legends of Venari
Product Focus: Pokémon for Web3
Founders: Jason Du, Drew Elkins
Round: Seed
Legends of Venari takes inspiration from Pokémon GO and brings it into the digital world via the metaverse. Co-founder Jason Du said during Demo Day that their software development kit shifts focus from ownership of in-game assets to ownership of the entire gaming ecosystem. Since launching 10 months ago, the game averages 3,000 weekly active users and has partnered with several NFT communities like Fractal. It raised $5.4 million in a seed round led by Lattice Capital.
Project Name: Sort
Product Focus: Firebase for Web3
Founder: Jason Zucchetto
Round: Seed
Sort aims to make building dApps easier for developers. “Writing a decentralized application is still incredibly painful,” founder Jason Zucchetto said during Demo Day. Sort wants to simplify open-source dApp development by providing toolkits and copy-paste code. Over 200 people view their tutorials daily, Zucchetto said. Sort is currently raising its seed round.
Project Name: Persona
Product Focus: Group Chats for DAOs
Founders: Raeez Lorgat, Will Doenlen, Alexander Green
Round: Seed
Persona is building group chats as “lightweight DAOs,” co-founder Raeez Lorgat said during Demo Day. While DAO popularity has surged over the past year, tools for forming and managing them remain fragmented across platforms. Persona aims to streamline this process so users can pool and manage funds toward any shared goal within minutes. To date, Persona has raised $4.5 million from investors including ECCO Capital, Alliance DAO, CYGNI Capital, and Protagonist.
Project Name: Ostium
Product Focus: On-Chain Commodities Market
Founders: Kaledora Kiernan-Linn, Marco Antonio Ribeiro
Round: Seed
Ostium is a platform aiming to bring commodities markets on-chain. Co-founder Kaledora Kiernan-Linn said non-institutional investors lack access to many commodity markets. This issue, she added, can be solved through decentralized finance. By reflecting off-chain assets on-chain via oracles like Pyth, protocols like Ostium aim to offer fractional exposure to assets at market prices. Ostium is fundraising for its seed round and seeks investors with expertise in liquidity provision.
Project Name: Slise
Product Focus: Web3-Native Advertising Platform
Founders: Oleksii Sidorov, Griffin Kao
Round: Pre-seed
Slise is a Web3-focused digital advertising platform that analyzes on-chain activity to deliver targeted ads across the Web3 ecosystem. It operates on blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon. Slise won the Polygon Build It hackathon last summer and is currently raising its seed round.
Project Name: Space and Time
Product Focus: Decentralized Data Storage
Founders: Nate Holiday, Scott Dykstra
Round: Series A
Space and Time is a decentralized data platform aimed at helping enterprises grow through smart contract technology. It uses “Proof-of-SQL” cryptography to automate business logic from traditional centralized systems and connect directly to smart contracts. It also plans to integrate the platform with Microsoft Azure. In September, Space and Time raised $20 million in a strategic round led by Microsoft M12.
Project Name: 0xPass
Product Focus: dApps with Web 2.0-like User Experience
Founders: Keon Kim, Krish Chelikavada
Round: Pre-seed
0xPass aims to bring Web 2.0-like user experiences to dApps, making wallets more accessible and user-friendly for mainstream adoption. Its Web3 UX improvements include onboarding new users without wallets, pre-approved transactions, and integrating 0xPass into apps with just a few lines of code. Its onboarding SDK entered closed testing last week and is being tested with 10 projects. So far, it has raised $600,000 and is currently raising its seed round.
Project Name: Niural
Product Focus: Compliant Crypto Payroll Platform
Founders: Nabin Banskota, Nami Baral
Round: Seed
Niural is a compliant cryptocurrency payroll platform. It built a payment protocol on Polygon enabling real-time payroll in fiat and crypto with low gas fees, along with a Web3-focused HR platform handling tax compliance and misclassification risks. It partners with companies like Renfroe, which has over 20,000 employees, and Scrum Launch, whose team spans 72 countries. Niural raised $5 million in its seed round with participation from Inspired Capital, New Form Capital, and Alliance DAO. It is currently seeking strategic investors.
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