OCTA Levels, BTC FOMO & Nation-State Panic
Fuel Labs, the creators behind the pioneering optimistic rollup Fuel v1, have joined forces with Graviton, a prominent Web3 accelerator in India, to propel the growth of the second volume of Web3 startups. This collaboration follows a two-month nationwide scouting initiative across major cities like New Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, and Bangalore.
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Newly selected teams, including Ultimate Digits, Evolv Art, Quantlytica, Nexity Network, Allocate Back, GameLand, and Stake-n-Bake, have risen to prominence, demonstrating their potential to become the next wave of successful Graviton-backed startups.
The previous cohort of Graviton-backed startups showcased remarkable results, spanning Web3 infrastructure tools, DeFi solutions, payments & rewards platforms, real-world asset tokenization, and GameFi ventures.
With an average seed investment of $42,000 per team, alongside invaluable guidance from VC heavyweights like HashKey Group and NGC Ventures, the inaugural cohort laid a solid foundation for future success.
Notably, Fetch.xyz secured a $1.5 million pre-seed funding round led by HashKey, signaling the program’s effectiveness in nurturing promising projects.
“We were excited then, and we’re positively thrilled now,” said Graviton CEO Arpit Nik, who floated the idea of launching an India-focused accelerator during his time as a General Partner in a global Web3 fund. “We’ve always believed in the potential of investing in, and then grooming, some of India’s strongest founders.
The results have perpetually yielded fascinating, high-quality products that make the Indian ecosystem proud.” He refers to the pedigree of founders such as Manish Tewari, Pritam Dutta, Mandar Ray, and many others who have graduated from the Graviton stable.
“India possesses an extraordinary wellspring of Web3 talent, and the teams Graviton has selected exemplify the sharpest and most forward-thinking innovators in this space.”
Arjun Kalsy, Chief Growth Officer at Fuel Labs
“Through dedicated mentorship, we’re committed to helping these startups reach their full potential. I’m genuinely excited to witness the groundbreaking products and achievements they will deliver, shaping the years ahead in the Web3 world,” said Arjun Kalsy, Chief Growth Officer at Fuel Labs.
“This year, the competition was way tougher, with global attention glued to bull market movements in the space. Newer teams, technology stacks and collaborations have emerged since we last went out scouting for projects. More than 500 applications came in, and the teams that have made the final cut, were subjected to extreme scrutiny.
We look forward to the growth journey that lies ahead!” remarked Shomprakash Sinha Roy, who runs point on brand storytelling, and personally met applying projects during India Blockchain Week, and its subsequent national tour (#BlockchainYatra).
Meet the Second Volume of Graviton-backed Startups
The latest batch of Graviton-backed startups promises innovation and disruption across various sectors:
1. Nexity Network, led by founder Catalin Fetean, is revolutionizing the business landscape. With a background spanning engineering, sustainable development, supply chain, customer experience, and design, Catalin drives innovation. At Nexity, he champions blockchain and circular economy principles via TradeFi, a groundbreaking platform which automates operations, reduces risks, and provides real-time global trade insights.
2. Ultimate Digits Inc., founded by Atharva Sabnis, pioneers Ethereum Phone Numbers for Web3 Identity and Smart Contract-based Telephony. Their platform transforms your phone number into your crypto wallet’s address, offering virtual web3 phone numbers for privacy starting with the unique +999 country code, as NFTs. Ultimate Digits also provides decentralized VOIP, Web3 transaction alerts over text, and multi-factor authentication, making it a comprehensive solution for Web3 communication needs.
3. The next Graviton-backed team is Evolv Art, founded by Madhav Khandelwal, a visionary venture poised to redefine digital engagement. Madhav’s journey began in 2018, crafting web3 products for renowned projects like CoinDCX and Carbon Protocol. Previously at Zilliqa, he was the Ecosystem Design lead, catalyzing the launch of 22 projects and nurturing 178 more, including the groundbreaking Zilswap and Zilpay.
In 2021, Madhav embarked on his entrepreneurial odyssey, founding the NFT sensation DeMons. Evolv Art is his latest brainchild, aimed at mainstreaming web3 technologies into everyday brand strategies. Evolv envisions a future where digital interactions are seamlessly integrated, benefiting both businesses and consumers. As a pioneer in this space, Evolv Art strives to drive ethical and sustainable practices, propelling a new era of digital innovation.
4. Quantlytica, led by co-founder and CMO Wesley Liao, is a fintech trailblazer revolutionizing cryptocurrency investment. Their AI-driven solutions cater to both retail and institutional investors, enhancing engagement and maximizing returns.
Over the next five years, Quantlytica aims to redefine DeFi through pioneering AI-driven investment solutions to transform how individuals and institutions interact with crypto markets. Their vision includes global expansion, diverse user adoption, and strategic partnerships within the crypto ecosystem. Quantlytica isn’t just a platform; it’s a beacon of financial empowerment in the web3 era, prioritizing returns, APR, and protecting against potential losses.
5. The next Volume 2 inductee is Allocate Back, helmed by seasoned FinTech founder Rajesh K — a seasoned technology professional & 2X founder with 20+ years in financial services, telecom, blockchain & cloud SaaS across APAC, Middle East & Europe, presently based in Singapore. Allocate Back is dramatically changing the dynamics of web3 real-world assets (RWA) investing with an AI-enabled algorithm that pools capital into a Mother Token, dynamically drip allocating it to multiple Asset Backed Tokens across various RWA platforms globally.
Their “Drip Investment & Drip Divestment” strategy (patent pending), will significantly enhance liquidity in RWA Tokens, simultaneously reducing risk through diversification, and enhancing returns by dynamically increasing allocations to top-performing RWA Managers. Users pay only 15% of the profits, rather than a fixed management fee, making Allocate Back a flexible and lucrative investment platform for the Web3 era.
6. Other Graviton-led investments in the current season include Gameland, which focuses on incentives and payments for data, modules & compute resources, as well as Stake n Bake, an omni-chain GameFi platform that allows its users to farm virtual cannabis in a world that is becoming increasingly observant of marijuana legalization laws, supported by farming yields in its native $BUDS token, an expectant bull-run champion.
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About Graviton
Graviton is a syndicate-backed fund comprising Hashkey, NGC Ventures, Moonrock Capital, Stacker Ventures, Ascensive Assets, and more. With a portfolio of 7 rockstar teams in its maiden cohort, their 16 week flagship accelerator program has been instrumental in creating powerful thought leadership and web3 project value on behalf of an expansive ecosystem of technology providers, blockchain leaders (mentors), and hyperlocal DAOs in the India-APAC region.
About Fuel
Fuel is an operating system purpose-built for Ethereum rollups. Fuel aims to bring new capabilities to the Ethereum Ecosystem all while preserving decentralisation. Fuel rollups will have parallelization, state minimised execution, and interoperability along with native account abstraction and support for wallets of all networks.
