Introducing the VeChain Accelerator Program

With an aim of “Creating Valuable Transactions”, various stakeholders, including VeChain Foundation, developers, enterprises, venture capitals, VET holders and academic institutions, contribute to and benefit from collective value creation through the development of the ecosystem. Individual developers and startups play an important role in the ecosystem built around the VeChainThor Public Blockchain, and as the key enabler VeChain Foundation will provide various methods of support to drive developer success.

dApps have been a hot topic since the industry entered the smart contract era, but many dApp developers, who usually start their project with ecosystem funding support, are struggling to find sustainable business models for their projects. We want all parties in the VeChain ecosystem to become a self-sufficient business and this means there is a need for a lot more than initial funding support. Therefore, following the bounty program, the VeChain Accelerator Program aims to provide the support needed as projects progress to becoming a successful business built on the VeChainThor Blockchain. The Accelerator Program not only includes a grant but more importantly it provides the accepted projects with exposure to the resources in the ecosystem, ranging from business leads, incubation, investment opportunities, market awareness, technical support, and professional services. VeChain Foundation is committed to working with its partners within the network to support the projects at various stages.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY?

Individual developers or startups that are already working on a project and wish to build the solutions on the VeChainThor Blockchain aiming for mass adoption and creating valuable transactions. To be accepted in the Accelerator Program, a project should have assembled a team, formalized the project plan, and developed a PoC preferably, an alpha release.

If a project is deemed to be not ready for the accelerator program, the program administration team will assess and choose to grant a starter reward for the project to move forward and apply for the Accelerator Program again at a later stage.

Projects which raised funds through a token issuance are not eligible for this program. However, projects may choose to raise funds through a token issuance or STO at a later stage after being accepted by the program.

WHAT TYPES OF PROJECTS WE ARE LOOKING FOR?

As the key enabler of the VeChain ecosystem, the Foundation sees projects in certain areas more valuable based on the development status of the ecosystem. However, these areas should be seen as guidance, we encourage developers to suggest their own applications which you deem will create valuable transactions for the ecosystem.

Based on the current status of the VeChain ecosystem and Foundation’s strategy, we look for projects that fit the criteria such as:

• Provide smooth user experiences and target at the broader mass than just crypto communities
• Create a new business model to solve the real-world economic problems utilizing the blockchain technology
• Add value to existing businesses by enhancing the operational efficiency and reducing costs
• Applications that tokenize virtual or physical assets, decentralized ownership of the assets or data, and facilitate value exchange
• Open infrastructural solutions such as DeFi that modularize financial primitives to provide the robust layer that can be used by the applications running on the VeChainThor Blockchain

WHAT’S THE SIZE OF THE GRANT? HOW ARE THEY PAID?

VeChain Foundation will provide a grant of 3K — 30K USD the majority of the time, in VET, while exceptions can be made individual cases. This is a grant and not an investment. And in principle, the grant is paid in tranches based on milestone achievements. Developers can request the amount and payment methods in the application, but the VeChain Foundation ultimately reserves the right to choose.

Projects that are not accepted in the program may be entitled with a starter reward package worth up to 1,000 USD in VTHO based on the assessment of the program administration team.

The Accelerator Program is much more than a grant, however.

WHAT ARE OTHER WAYS ACCELERATOR PROGRAM MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE SUPPORT?

In addition to the grant, our developer accelerator program aims to provide various methods of support needed for a project to become a self-sufficient business. We can offer support in the following areas throughout the project development at proper stages:

• Incubation services, we work with multiple incubators around the world, such as CREAMethod, Tribe, or LongHash, which work to help projects find working space, public exposure, community management, and funding.
• Investment opportunities, we will present the projects in this program to our VC partners, such as Fenbushi Capital and Draper Dragon, who may invest capital or strategic resources
• Bring business leads to you by leveraging VeChain enterprise partner networks. VeChain’s network can build client pipelines that take your technology to real life adoption
• Direct access to the core tech team and early access to the technologies and turnkey solutions developed by VeChain
• Mature projects may conduct utility token issuance or STO on the VeChainThor Blockchain under the advisory of ecosystem partners in the jurisdictions of VeChain’s government partners
• VeChain Bounty Programs such as VeChainThor Supercharger are also available to support a project in user adoption
• Go international, using VeChain’s global network to help you expand new markets
• Publicity by promotion on social media, VeChain’s media partners and events
• Last but not least, VeChain Foundation would invest its expertise and resources to provide standard professional service support from HR and legal perspective

APPLICATION AND EVALUATION PROCESS

Step 1: Preliminary evaluation

Applications should be submitted through the online form. Projects that are rejected in the evaluation can re-apply at a later stage as you deem appropriate based on the received feedback.

The preliminary evaluation will be conducted by the program administration team, who will review the application, a high-level investigation into the state of the project and background of the team. An interview with core team members is expected at this stage to better understand the project and get to know the team.

• The originality of the idea and nativeness on the VeChainThor Blockchain
• Technical features and value proposition
• The background and experience of the team and the development capability
• Value to the VeChain ecosystem
• Plan for product development, user acquisition, and expansion
• The progress that the project made so far
• The preliminary evaluation takes two weeks, the program administration team will notify the applicants whether their project enters the final evaluation.

Step 2: Final evaluation

The final evaluation will be conducted by the program committee, a team consisting of VeChain core team, steering committee members, representatives from VeChain’s enterprise, VC and incubator partners. This evaluation will review the summarized results of the preliminary evaluation and focus on the project’s go to market plan and technical development roadmap. The committee may invite the applicants to parts of this discussion for the purposes of further review and examination.

Again, applications should be submitted through the online form. Projects that are rejected in the evaluation can re-apply at a later stage as you deem appropriate based on the received feedback.

WHAT SHOULD THE APPLICATION DESCRIBE?

While we understand that each project will have unique properties to underline and stress, all applications will benefit from addressing the following unambiguously:

• The project’s goal and scope
• Technical features and value proposition
• Background and experience of the team
• The project, timelines, targeted deliverables at each milestone, estimated efforts
• The amount of funding requested and payment method
• Go to market strategy and user acquisition plan
• How the project benefits the VeChain ecosystem
• An executive summary and a pitch deck
• Projects that passed the final evaluation will be published via an introductory post in the VeChainWorld forum.

Check out the Developer Information Center for technical documentation and Official Gitter Developer Channel to find the development resources. Please make sure you have read and agree to the rules of VeChain Accelerator Program. For any question, please contact bounty@vechain.com.

APPLY NOW!!!