Program review – in summary
21 companies graduated from 4 accelerator streams; Walmart Store N°8, Polygon, Zero Knowledge and NEAR
We want to thank all the participants and contributors who made this program a success and invite everyone to read the highlights report.
Intro
We ended 2023 at Outlier with four outstanding programs coming to a close – Walmart Store N°8, Zero Knowledge, Polygon and NEAR. With the total of 21 graduating teams selected from amongst hundreds of applicants the quality of founders and their teams has surpassed our expectations.
Over the course of 12 weeks, the shortlisted startups have worked directly with many expert teams, connected with mentors in their industries, and been introduced to potential partners, clients, and investors in the Outlier Ventures network, forging relationships that will last a lifetime.
Each Base Camp program is a joint effort among various teams striving to provide exceptional service. The unwavering dedication of all involved – founders, partners, Program Managers & Program Associates, expert teams, mentors, and guests – has been pivotal, transforming the program into a memorable journey for everyone involved.
Store N°8 and Synergis Capital
Walmart Store N°8 Base Camp came into fruition through our partnership with Store N°8 – the incubation arm of Walmart and a core component of Walmart’s innovation strategy. We aligned in our vision on the future of commerce and consumer applications. Walmart’s extensive customer base and strategic influence make it an ideal partner for propelling commercial innovation. The Walmart Store No°8 Base Camp utilized this robust platform to pioneer new commerce innovations that will transform the retail landscape.
Synergis Capital was our venture partner for the Walmart Store N°8 Base Camp. Synergis is a leading venture capital firm committed to backing early stage startups and supporting the new generation of technology leaders.
Meet the Graduates!
Reveel provides programmable payment infrastructure for the collaboration economy. Reveel’s product suite enables automated payout flows and frictionless transactions between parties.
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Tide Protocal represents the next-generation web3 marketing suite, designed to empower businesses in acquiring and retaining customers through on-chain campaigns and advanced analytics.
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HypeLab is currently the fastest growing web3 ad network where any crypto dApp or website can advertise their products or services to millions of crypto users through their premier publisher network.
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TokenGuard is an easy-to-use tool that allows Web3 builders to track, analyse and understand their users to create winning marketing strategies and implement features that sell.
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The Future of Privacy
At Outlier, we believe that Zero Knowledge Proofs are the endgame for bringing 1 billion users to Web3 through scaling, identity, and privacy. During the Zero Knowledge program we’ve been working closely with multiple partners who share our vision for private yet compliant Web3 – Mina Protocol, ScalingX, and Old Fashioned Research.
Together, we postulated that zero knowledge technology has applications beyond the blockchain. As such, the companies who got accepted into the program brought in truly multi-disciplinary expertise, pioneering the work in zero knowledge cryptography relevant to multiple industries such as cyber security, biotech, and financial services.
Meet the Graduates!
Surfer Monkey is a compliant mixer to bring in secure web3 surfing to everyone through their ZKP-based Widget.
ZKON provides a trustless and secure MPC service to connect financial accounts, which allows for private sharing of Zero-Knowledge verified data with apps, services, or companies.
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Absinthe Labs is pioneering interoperable proof-of-human engagement tools – like their zkCaptcha, allowing dApps to upgrade human users to elite citizens of Web3.
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Litegrav develops tools to accelerate drug and biotech development by enabling IP-safe data exchange and co-compute for biotech innovation.
zkHub is building an ecosystem for privacy-preserving delegated generation of zero-knowledge proofs through integration of Multi-Party Computation.
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Polygon Base Camp
Throughout our long-standing partnership with Polygon Lab we’ve ran four Polygon Base Camp programs spanning multiple years and accelerating 32 talented teams across the Polygon ecosystem. The 2023 Polygon Base Camp program featured four startups building robust solutions with the use of Polygon technology stack.
As Polygon offers a complete suite of solutions – similar to what Amazon Web Services offers Web2 developers – we were able to support a diverse group of builders spanning categories such as web3 financial services and online gaming.
Meet the Graduates!
Alcancia builds ‘be your own bank’ infrastructure for 300 million Latin Americans that addresses the challenges of saving in Latin America by providing smart savings alternatives in DeFi.
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Tropykus is building a platform for Latin American SMEs to provide loans to employees or collaborators so that they have access to credit without previous history.
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Junkyard created the first dump-to-earn NFT platform that offers a smart way to recycle useless NFTs into something valuable.
LIQ is a social bid-to-earn auction marketplace for real-world assets and collectibles that offers sellers instant liquidity and fair market value for their assets without the need to off-ramp.
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NEAR Base Camp
NEAR Base Camp was the largest single program in Q4 2023, featuring 7 teams building across NEAR and Aurora.
The NEAR Foundation recently launched NEAR Horizon, a startup support platform revolutionizing how founders are supported in Web3. In line with those efforts, NEAR and Outlier have been working together to launch the NEAR Base Camp program where founders can access a more hands-on support through Outlier’s vast network of experts and mentors.
Meet the Graduates!
Glass powers loyalty, rewards, and community engagement for the global alcohol industry, using unique, blockchain-based compliance infrastructure to connect alcohol brands with fans.
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HackQuest is a Web3 developer education platform that aims to onboard developers and non-developers to the world of Web3.
Meteor Wallet is more than just a wallet – it’s ago-to, simplified, secure portal for the multi-chain crypto journey.
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QSTN is a revolutionary wallet-based data survey marketplace where users earn NFTs and tokens for completing surveys tracked on-chain.
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Quidli is a social middle layer for Web3; their add-on evolves Web2 platforms like Slack or Discord into Web3 super-apps with micro on-ramping services that allow anyone to tip crypto.
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Shred Spots is the first decentralized AR metaverse and social platform that immortalizes urban creative expressions and immerses users into an alternative world of street-born arts.
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V-Art is a white-label solution for licensing products with IP rights verified and managed on the Blockchain, tailored for creative, tech and luxury brands.
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Meet the Outliers
Our dedicated program managers and associates guided the startups effectively using the OKR methodology. They held weekly one-on-one sessions and conducted regular check-ins; acting as the first point of contact for founders, they worked assiduously to ensure the teams had access to the necessary resources, mentorship, and advice to make significant progress.
During the wrap-up call of the program, the founders expressed the significant value they found in these calls and conveyed how much they would miss these weekly discussions.
Workshops and Mentors
Every activity and initiative in the Base Camp programs is intended to help founders progress. During the intensive 12-week program, founders participated in workshops, one-on-one expert sessions, and had the opportunity to network with mentors. The initial weeks were filled with high-energy activities, including pitching their companies to subject matter experts and mentors at Outlier Ventures.
At Outlier Ventures, we believe that access to top industry experts is a significant part of our value proposition and often the most crucial step for teams to achieve their product-market fit. Many of the founders singled out their relationship with mentors as the highlight of the program, as they were able to build report that lasts not just during the program but carries on way into the future. Founders got invaluable insights in various fields such as product engineering & UX design, fundraising, token design & tokenomics, marketing & community, and legal from both mentors and Outlier experts.
Throughout the program, teams not only attended workshops conducted by our internal experts in these key areas but also had one-on-one sessions with these experts, allowing them to brainstorm ideas tailored to their companies and products. These sessions often led to the teams finalizing their go-to-market strategies. We extend our gratitude to all the expert teams who shared their knowledge and expertise relentlessly in support of our shared vision of constructing an open and interoperable metaverse.
- Jessica Berger, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Publicis Media
- Alex Tudor, Principal Software Engineer, Store No.8
- Jonathan Pan, Head of Product, Store No.8 & Sr. Director of Product Management, Walmart
- Catie Romero-Finger, CEO & Co-Founder, BABs
- Halsey Huth, Head of Growth & Partnerships, MoonPay
- Andy Lark, Chair & Founder, Group Lark and CCO, Liven
- Shivani Phull, Director of Investment & Finance, PIXELYNX
- Lilit D'elia, CEO, Disrup3
- Nikita Bocharnikov, CPO, Zelwin
- Jonas Hayajneh, Head of BD, DAOMaker
- Yonatan Goldich, CEO, Goldich Consulting
- Christine Yip, Head of Community, Gensyn
- Phil Kelly, Head of Business Development, O(1) Labs
- Binu Paul, Finance, Technology & Regulation Consultant
- Piyush Maheshwari, Ecosystem Development, ex Protocol Labs
- Abhishek Saxena, Principal, Polygon Ventures
- Jack Melnick, Head of DeFi, Polygon Labs
- Aaron Kern, Partner, 6th Man Ventures
- Tracy Chang, CEO & Founder, Mogaland
We also wish to offer special thanks to all the experts who kindly offered their insights by participating in our Expert Office Hours.
Learn How to Sell Professionally with Raymond McConnell from JRM Global Training
Crypto Marketing with Shash Gupta from Altcoin Buzz
Not Being Memorable is the Same as Being Forgotten with Saul Colt from The Idea Integration Company
Hack Your Way to Success with Edward Sturm, Innovation Consultant @ Forbes
0 to 300K Users in 1 Year with Yoann Pavy from Nude
How to Build and Manage a Global Team with Roman Lobas from Deel
The Importance of Personal Brand with Richard Johnson from Sports 3.0, ex-Outlier Ventures
SEO For Web3 Projects: How to Grow Your Traffic 5x Without Spending on Ads with Victoria Olsina, SEO Consultant at Near, Polkadot, Consensys
Perks and Benefits
We would like to thank all the Outlier Ventures portfolio companies that provide an extensive suite of services at no cost to Outlier Ventures startups. Our perks marketplace includes services from approximately 40 high-value partners such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Notion, HubSpot and Stripe. We are also able to offer access to various web3 services from companies such as Alchemy, Figment, Moralis + many more.
Legal Disclaimer
This page (the “Page”) has been prepared, published and distributed by Outlier Ventures Operations Ltd (“Outlier Ventures”). Outlier Ventures Operations Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company registration number 10722638.No undertaking, warranty or other assurance is given, and none should be implied, as to, and no reliance should be placed on the accuracy, completeness or fairness of the information or opinions contained in this Page. The information contained in the Page is not subject to completion, alteration and verification nor should it be assumed that the information in the Page will be updated. The information contained in the Page has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies, and has not been verified by Outlier Ventures or any of its associates or affiliates. The Page should not be considered a recommendation by Outlier Ventures or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents or advisers in connection with any purchase of or subscription for securities or otherwise. Recipients should not construe the contents of this Page as legal, tax, regulatory, financial, investment, trading or accounting advice or services and are urged to consult with their own advisers in relation to such matters. The information contained in the Page has been prepared purely for informational purposes. Any person requesting to contact a company through Outlier Ventures does so at their own risk and is solely responsible for conducting any legal, accounting or due diligence review. The information contained in the Page has not been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority. Any forecasts, opinions, estimates and projections contained in the Page constitute the judgment of Outlier Ventures and are provided for illustrative purposes only. No warranty (express or implied) is or will be made or given in relation to, and (except in the case of willful fraud) no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by Outlier Ventures or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents or advisers in respect of, such forecasts, opinions, estimates and projections or their achievement or reasonableness. In all cases persons should conduct their own investigation and analysis of the information in the Page.
