Building the Bitcoin ecosystem, Web3 biggest untapped opportunity
- Outlier Ventures launches the second Bitcoin Base Camp Accelerator Program with a focus on supporting early stage founders.
- The Bitcoin Base Camp will double down on startups building in two verticals, dApps and infrastructure for asset issuance.
- The 12-week virtual accelerator program will include workshops with subject matter experts from Outlier Ventures, as well as mentorship from industry experts.
- Applications are now open and will close at the end of August 2024 with the program starting in early September, 2024.
- Outlier Ventures published a new Bitcoin thesis, identifying and exploring verticals that we view as promising opportunities.
Introducing our new Bitcoin Base Camp Accelerator program
After successfully wrapping up our first Bitcoin Base Camp in early 2024, Outlier Ventures remains bullish on the Bitcoin ecosystem. It is with great enthusiasm that we announce the launch of our second iteration of the Bitcoin Base Camp slated for Q3 of this year.
As we reflect on the progress of our startups, we’ve also had an opportunity to dig deeper and identify verticals that we view as promising opportunities. It’s been nine months since we published our initial views on the Bitcoin ecosystem. Since then, we’ve seen several spot ETF approvals, all-time highs and the emergence of new players in the asset issuance arena. “Bitcoin has – and continues to provide an important narrative to the web3 community,” says Bitcoin Accelerator Lead, Francesca Conti. “The momentum around Bitcoin-native solutions has dramatically advanced within the last year. Scalability and composability continue to promote new found opportunities within the space and with that has presented an emergence of new players and evolving use cases.”
Applications are now open until August 2024. The program will kick off in early September.
Revisiting our Bitcoin ecosystem view after the inaugural BTC Base Camp
We’re bullish on Bitcoin applications playing into asset issuance as well as Bitcoin DeFi. Both use cases naturally feed into one another.
In terms of what is next for Outlier Ventures Outlook on Bitcoin, we’re currently seeking builders that are creating sustainable businesses in 5 subcategories:
- Institutional Grade DeFi
- Bitcoin Stablecoins
- Middleware & Tooling
- Cross-chain Applications
- Governance Tools
What are some of the solutions we would like to see founders building? For more, here is a comprehensive overview of Call for Builders and a more detailed analysis of what we are looking for.
From our past cohort, Outlier Ventures has derived four key learnings:
- Ordinals, more recently Runes, are the biggest focus of BTC ecosystem investors
- Bitcoin is still top of mind with founders and investors even outside the ecosystem
- BTC is speedrunning innovation based on other ecosystem blueprints
- BTC DeFi demand is currently mainly driven by emerging markets
Composability, scalability and Bitcoin’s massive opportunity surrounding untapped assets are all areas in which we remain bullish on the Bitcoin ecosystem. With the aforementioned, we are seeing developers returning back to Bitcoin and utilizing its technology to build solutions on the largest network with the highest integrity. Learn more what our past Bitcoin Base Camp cohort is building.
To apply for the Bitcoin Base Camp: https://www.outlierventures.io/base-camp/bitcoin-base-camp-2/
To read our original complete thesis: https://outlierventures.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Doubling-Down-on-Bitcoin-Thesis-BC-2.pdf
Doubling down on Bitcoin
We have also published our new Bitcoin thesis diving deeper identifying verticals that we view as promising opportunities.
We are confident that now is an ideal time to double down on Bitcoin and provide premium support to builders unlocking new opportunities in Bitcoin. What remains evident is the excitement surrounding Bitcoin and the positive narrative behind the new technology. In our research and speaking amongst the crypto community, we are confident that there are limited signs of it slowing down any time soon.
Previous recruiting cycle we focused on four different pockets to recruit founders from:
- Decentralized Finance
- dApps Leveraging Asset Issuance
- Mining & Energy Solutions
- Infrastructure
Upon re-evaluating the investment process and the program we have decided to double down on two verticals:
- dApps & infrastructure for asset issuance
- Bitcoin DeFi
