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The recently launched Web3 accelerator program, backed by a galaxy of experienced contributors and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, has just finished its first cohort, with 13 companies graduating. The program was launched to connect the best founders with investors and mentors and help them accelerate their projects. The 12-week cohort began in October, with more than 30 founders from 15 companies involved in web3, decentralized finance, and other spaces.

Titled Cohort 0, it ended up with the following graduating companies: Meta Apes, Nillion, ChapterX, Arcana, Blinkmoon, Community Gaming, Colexion, FastLane, Cubist, Mystic Moose, Davos Protocol, Ylide, and Timeswap. Referring to the recent stress on the crypto markets, Nailwal said: “We were worried that companies might start to pull out, so discouraged by the crypto markets.” He added: “Instead, everyone showed up and was ready to keep building through this.” Nailwal called the companies that graduated “Beacon MVPs” due to their successful demonstration of how Beacon was useful across networks. Beacon hoped to work differently from other accelerators by hosting its own software that could bridge the gap between founders and investors. He has created a social network for alumni and founders to stay connected and a platform for investors to review projects. On their official website, Beacon lists five characteristics they look for in companies. I would review whether companies have built an engaged and motivated team, drawn from a global talent pool, with founders, especially from emerging markets. He also admitted how web3 was changing rapidly and as a result encouraged companies that applied to focus on all Web3 verticals including NFTs, metaverses, etc. He, too, preferred to invest in seed rounds of a relatively new startup. Collaborate with the founders from the beginning of the company. Ultimately, the product mattered more; therefore, he stated that he would focus on great products to meet the needs of consumers. The Web3 space has witnessed a quiet revolution in the last year, even though the crypto industry has been going through hard times. With the renewed vigor of investors, new companies operating in the sector closed multiple financing agreements.
The writer is the founder of yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash