Applications for the Injective Ecosystem Builder Catalyst are open!
Equity-free Catalyst for early-stage EVM dApps ready to scale on Injective.
Program Summary
Starting in: November 2025
Duration: 9 weeks
Application closure: October 2025
Where: Fully remote
Investment: Access to Injective’s dedicated reward pool in $INJ
Official Partner
Injective is a lightning fast interoperable layer one blockchain optimized for builder premier Web3 finance applications. Injective provides developers with powerful plug-and-play modules for creating unmatched dApps. INJ is the native asset that powers Injective and its rapidly growing ecosystem. Injective is incubated by Binance and is backed by prominent investors such as Jump Crypto, Pantera and Mark Cuban.
“Injective is on the path to become a defining infrastructure layer for next-generation DeFi. Its speed, interoperability, and modular design position it as a category leader for complex financial applications on-chain. Our partnership goes beyond advisory, it’s an ecosystem investment. By aligning through Injective tokens, securing the network as a validator, and actively supporting ecosystem growth, we are backing Injective’s long-term trajectory and helping catalyze a new generation of DeFi builders on top of it.”
Dimitrios Chatzianagnostou
Chief Investment Officer, Outlier Ventures
What is Injective?
Injective is a highly performant, interoperable Layer 1 blockchain optimized for building advanced DeFi applications, offering seamless, low-cost trading and execution with full EVM compatibility. It is the only blockchain where developers can use pre-built, customizable modules to create dynamic applications that aren’t possible on other networks. Combined with optimizations to its core architecture and enhanced cross-chain interoperability, Injective offers a high-performance network, ready to efficiently and securely bring the global financial system on-chain.
Purpose-Built for DeFi: Designed from the ground up to support derivatives, perpetuals, and complex trading infrastructure that traditional chains struggle to handle.
EVM Compatible: Supports Solidity smart contracts natively, making it easy for existing Ethereum-based dApps to deploy and expand with minimal changes.
Interoperable by Design: Enables cross-chain trading and liquidity flows, allowing builders to tap into users and assets across multiple blockchain ecosystems.
High-Speed, Low-Cost Execution: Features sub-second block times and low fees, delivering the performance DeFi protocols need for real-time trading and a smooth user experience.
Strong Ecosystem Support: Backed by robust incentive programs, developer tools, and mentorship to help founders scale quickly, attract liquidity, and grow their user base.
“Outlier Ventures has built a reputation as the go-to early stage investor in Web3, with a proven ability to help founders scale. Combining their expertise with Injective’s ecosystem creates the perfect launchpad for the next wave of DeFi innovation.”
Eric Chen
Co-Founder, Injective
“Injective represents the next frontier for DeFi builders—a chain designed to unlock entirely new financial markets and trading experiences. By combining speed, EVM compatibility, and seamless cross-chain liquidity, it empowers teams to imagine and deliver the future of decentralized finance.”
Sam Whitehead
Program Manager, Injective Catalyst Lead
Why Now?
Web3 and DeFi infrastructure have advanced rapidly over the last cycles. We believe now is the ideal moment for founders to expand to Injective, driven by the following trends:
EVM Compatibility: Injective has fully embraced EVM, enabling easy porting of existing dApps and tooling with minimal friction. This reduces time-to-market for multi-chain strategies.
Liquidity Incentives: Significant reward pools and ecosystem incentives are available to early movers, helping teams bootstrap liquidity and attract users faster than on saturated L1s.
Derivatives and Advanced DeFi Demand: User appetite for advanced derivatives, perpetuals, and cross-chain trading continues to grow, making Injective’s infrastructure particularly timely for specialized DeFi builders.
Developer Experience: Improvements in tooling, documentation, and mentorship make it easier than ever for teams to integrate natively with Injective and tap into its performant infrastructure.
Strategic Differentiation: As competition intensifies on crowded L1s, expanding to Injective offers a credible way to differentiate, access new user bases, and signal long-term commitment to ecosystem growth.
What projects are we looking for?
Protocol-Integrated Infrastructure
Founders building infrastructure, developer tooling, or middleware with a clear plan to launch on Injective.
- EVM Compatibility & Multi-Chain Tooling
- Developer SDKs and Middleware
- ZK and Account Abstraction Solutions
Next-Generation DeFi Applications
Teams with early traction on EVM chains looking to launch their DeFi protocols natively on Injective.
- Advanced Derivatives and Perpetual Markets
- Cross-Chain Liquidity Solutions
- Decentralized Trading Infrastructure
- Yield Optimization Strategies
- Novel Tokenomics and Incentive Design
Agent-Based and Automated Systems
Builders exploring autonomous, agent-driven, or automated coordination in DeFi and infrastructure on Injective.
- Autonomous Trading Agents and Market Makers
- Decentralized Coordination Protocols
- Smart Contract Automation and Scheduling
- Tokenized Resource Sharing
- Synthetic Asset Systems
What do startups get out of the program?
Part 1
Week 1-2
Helping you to maintain focus on OKRs & Web3 Readiness Framework and ensuring you’re optimally leveraging our network.
Part 2
Week 3-6
Building your knowledge and refine your idea through workshops and 1:1 meetings with our Subject Matter Experts across token, design, legal, engineering, fundraising and more.
Part 3
Week 7-9
Having learned and refined your idea and in the first six weeks, the final weeks of the program are tailored towards supporting the key areas needed to bring product to market.
Post Program
An opportunity to showcase your product to the wider Outlier network and receive post-programme portfolio support.
- 360 support from experts on token, product, legal, fundraising, etc.
- Access to a mentor network of industry leaders in the Web3 space
- Fundraising support tailored to your needs
Our partners have helped us accelerate for our 350+ portfolio companies
Testimonials
FAQs
- 9 week fully remote accelerator designed to scale your dApp and bring it to the next level.
- Access to in house specialists from areas like: operations, legal, commercial, and co-marketing support.
- Token engineering support and business model testing to pinpoint product-market fit
- An active global mentor, partner and investor network featuring over 400+ mentors and 370+ alumni companies in Web3
The Injective Ecosystem Builder Catalyst is designed to help founders scale rapidly within the Injective ecosystem, through hands-on mentorship in product design, tokenomics, legal, and go-to-market strategy and fast-tracked technical integration with Injective’s EVM-compatible chain.
We’re looking for ambitious teams with live MVPs, early traction, or strong technical foundations who are ready to expand to Injective – we want to hear from builders developing middleware, developer tooling, or blockchain infrastructure ready to support Injective natively, those teams with DeFi protocols on EVM chains seeking to launch natively on Injective and Builders exploring automation, agent-driven coordination, and smart contract-based systems on Injective.
Injective Builder Catalyst is a fully remote and virtual program. This allows us to recruit and work with the best teams wherever. We have invested in companies across all continents. Our strength lies in the diversity of founders that we accelerate across the globe. Builders will engage with OV on Discord for dev help, X for co-marketing support, Youtube for workshops/tutorials, etc.