• Over 350 applicants from 65 countries applied, with 30 shortlisted candidates
  • Coinbase Cloud will offer perks for Celo Camp founders
  • Most teams focused on regenerative finance (ReFi) for real-world impact
  • Alums from the first five Celo Camp cohorts have processed transactions on the Celo blockchain valued at an estimated $1B, and raised over $120M from tech investors

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Celo Camp, the eight-week virtual acceleration and mentorship program launched in early 2020 in partnership with Upright, announces its Batch 6 cohort. In total, 30 teams were selected from a group of 356 applicants across 65 countries, driven by interest in Celo’s carbon-negative, mobile-first platform and its mission to create prosperity for all.

“Evidenced through the applications received for Batch 6, a considerable number of global builders are moving into the ReFi space,” says Rachel Jakob, Upright’s Program Manager. “It’s exciting to see so many people working on projects for real-world impact…I’m looking forward to watching these collaborations come to fruition in the coming months.”

Celo Camp guides Web3 developers to launch and scale projects, connect with like-minded builders, and prosper in the blockchain ecosystem. Batch 6 will further benefit from a new collaboration with Coinbase Cloud and its Web3 Accelerator Program, which will provide a suite of Web3 APIs, services, and infrastructure and up to $25,000 in Cloud Credits.

Coinbase Cloud joins AWS, Hubspot and Twilio SendGrid in offering Celo Camp teams ongoing services and support. “The Celo ecosystem attracts some of Web3’s best founders and builders from around the world, and Celo Camp plays an integral role,” says Xochitl Cazador, the Celo Foundation’s Head of Ecosystem Growth. “We provide founders with robust support so that they may achieve wider adoption, as with Celo Camp’s new Coinbase Cloud collaboration, and more broadly through the Celo Foundation’s founders residency and recent partnership with IDEO.”

Additionally, Batch 6 teams will receive input from mentors at leading Web3 and tech organizations, including NFX, Coinbase Cloud, Climate Collective, Flori Ventures, Digital Assets, Collider Ventures, Sunset Ventures, Ubeswap, Teller Finance, Valora, Flow Carbon, Cross River, Echo VC, GoodGhosting, Impact Market, Dotdots, Finoa, 50years, Build AI, cLabs, and the Celo Foundation; technical support from Celo ecosystem engineers will also be provided, alongside invitations to networking events and workshops led by industry experts, investors, and partners.

To date, alums from the first five Celo Camp cohorts have processed transactions on the Celo blockchain valued at an estimated $1B. The cohorts also raised more than $120M from tech sector investors, including Polychain, Davoa Capital, Electric Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Mercy Corps, Allegory, and Flori.

Celo Camp’s Batch 6 includes the following participants across ReFi, DeFi, payments, the creator economy, P2E, and DAOs: Kolor, Blockless, inTheory, Neutral Protocol, Nomis, Whatclass, Skylink, AgriVirtus, SAVE by Alice, Monad, NRverse, Vault3, Vollar, Tokpay, PrintNet3D, Autify Network, Carbon 2 Climate, Rebioca, CarbonPath, Eco Labs, Silvi, Renie, PayBox web 3.0, Plantiverse, Circonomy, LazyFi, Metapyxl, Boom Boogers, Whal3s, Stunning Green.

Ten finalists will present their projects to the Celo community, their mentors, and investors at Demo Day on November 15. The winner and runner-up will be announced on December 6, when the first prize of 10k cUSD and the second prize of 5K cUSD will be presented. The five teams with projects that most reflect the Celo community tenets—design for all, strive for beauty, innovate on money, and embrace humility—will receive 2K cUSD each.

About the Celo Foundation

The Celo Foundation was founded in 2017 to support the growth and development of the decentralized, open source, mobile-first Celo platform to help build a carbon-negative financial system that creates the conditions of prosperity for all. The Foundation is guided by the Celo community tenets and contributes to education, technical research, environmental health, community engagement, and ecosystem outreach—activities that support and encourage an inclusive financial system. For more about Celo, visit https://celo.org/.

About Upright

Upright, a platform that connects founders to blockchain protocols via acceleration programs, is one of the earliest companies to create and manage virtual accelerators and entrepreneurship programs for layer 1 protocols. Upright connects founders with mentors, investors and leading experts in the web3 space. Through its programs, founders from all over the world collaborate, learn and grow together.

Contacts

elizabeth.peng@celo.org