The Filecoin Base Camp accelerator is the first of Outlier Ventures’ collaboration programs. Each year, Outlier Ventures will align with organisations like Filecoin that are leading the development of core blockchain technologies to host dedicated accelerators, each consisting of ten startups that will participate in a 5-month program. Base Camp accelerators help startups refine business strategies, reach product-market fit, stimulate community growth, and define token design and governance. Cohort participants will gain access to Outlier Venture’s network of investors and mentors to support fundraising efforts— the ultimate goal of each Base Camp accelerator. In addition, participating teams will receive investment from both Outlier Ventures and Protocol Labs at the outset of the program.
The Filecoin Base Camp will nurture teams whose business potential will leverage Filecoin’s decentralized storage stack to create new use cases that are inline with Outlier Ventures’ Metaverse OS thesis. The cohort will be selected through the lens of growing the Filecoin ecosystem across various layers such as:
Applications: Tools or dapps that use the storage layer of Filecoin to provide superior performance compared to Web 2 alternatives. Filecoin offers affordable, high-quality storage that can be used by startups in any industry, even those that aren’t necessarily considered ‘Web 3.0 natives’.
Middleware: Services and technology that bridge ecosystems by creating tools that use Filecoin and IPFS for respective application domains.
Infrastructure: Developer tools and core infrastructure services supporting basic processes such as file management, encryption and general onboarding process for use of Filecoin and the IPFS protocol.
‘Picks & Shovels’: As the Filecoin ecosystem grows, there will be opportunities that are adjacent to Filecoin and enable the ecosystem to thrive. Examples here may include financial services, database overlays, Layer 2 protocols on top of Filecoin, and many more.
Novel Interactions: Filecoin can be used to unlock new use cases for decentralised technology. By bringing large volumes of useful and verifiable storage that is proven on a periodic basis, Filecoin offers a unique building block to the Web 3 ecosystem. Cohort participants will create new protocols and interactions that leverage Filecoin’s strengths and composability.
Participating startups will gain exposure to both Outlier Ventures’ and Protocol Labs’ ecosystems, offering an unparalleled opportunity for founders to scale their technology and grow their business. The Filecoin developer community is one of the most active and fast-growing in the Web 3 space, with hundreds of applications being built on the protocol and thousands of developers entering the ecosystem through hackathons and educational programs. The Filecoin network currently has over 6.44EiB of storage capacity committed from over 2300 miners all over the world.
The Outlier Ventures Base Camp program has been accelerating blockchain startups since 2019 and has notable alumni such as DIAData, Boson Protocol, NFT42, Cryptio, Crucible, among others who have collectively raised over $100m in seed capital.
Applications for the Autumn program are open today and will close on July 28th, 2021.
Founders interested in applying to Filecoin Base Camp can book office hours with representatives from Filecoin and Outlier Ventures to learn more about the program and how the accelerator can play a key role in contributing to the growth of their project.
For more information on Filecoin Base Camp, please visit outlierventures.io/base-camp/filecoin-base-camp/.
