In 2020, the Celo Foundation in partnership with Upright launched an 8-week virtual acceleration and mentorship program dubbed Celo Camp. This week, the two organizations announced the participants selected for its Batch 5 cohort which comprises of 30 impressive teams. Celo said they reviewed a group of 395 applicants from over 75 countries with founders creating impactful Web3 applications built on Celo. The solutions touched several sectors such as ReFi, DeFi, the creator’s economy, NFTs, tools and analytics, payments, and gaming.
“Each batch of Celo Camp guides decentralized technology builders and entrepreneurs in creating sustainable businesses on the Celo blockchain. Batch 5 will feature a curriculum designed for startup growth, workshops with industry experts, and a mentorship program with mentors from NFX, a16z, Galaxy Digital, Coinbase, Cross River, Flori Ventures, Samsung Next, Allegory, Climate Collective, Valora, Teller Finance, Finoa, Collider Ventures, Eterna Capital, Ethereal Ventures, Tackett Bartlett LLP, Kresko Labs, cLabs, and the Celo Foundation.” Celo Foundation announced on its blog.
“We’re seeing a focus on ReFi, real-world use cases, on/off ramps to simplify the experience for everyday mobile users, and closer integration with telecom providers. We’re excited to watch these projects grow and witness the collaborations that form over the 8-week cycle.” stated Rachel Jakob, Program Manager at Upright.
Celo Camp now has 88 graduates who have raised a combined $48.6M for their projects since 2020.
The 30 Teams Selected for Celo Camp Batch 5
Esolidar: Empowers philanthropy and ESG practice through blockchain technology.
Authologic: An aggregation and orchestration layer for local KYC methods.
Plastiks.io: A platform closing the loop between plastic production and recovery.
Kluest: A no-code augmented-reality metaverse.
Flow Carbon: A project that brings carbon credits to the blockchain to rapidly scale climate change solutions.
Maya Financial: The first SEC-registered financial institution built on top of Defi rails and able to offer high-yield Celo accounts to its U.S. clients.
Birden: A powerful publishing platform that helps creators publish, sell, and grow businesses around their content in Web3.
Kubond: A platform making corporate bonds accessible to retail investors.
Flan: A local-first platform streamlining opportunities, project processes, and payments for freelancers and their clients in the creative digital space.
Climate Guardians: The first “Play To Preserve” mobile strategy game where players team up to fight deforestation while making a real-world impact.
NEFTME: A decentralized social NFT network.
Jiwe IO: A virtual platform where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences.
Athena Protocol: A platform creating sustainable models for dMRV and ESG verification.
Alcancía: A project focused on creating savings accounts for the unbanked in Latin America.
Gane: A freemium mobile provider for developing countries.
Celo Tracker: A platform that tracks and manages Celo portfolio assets.
Closer: An operating system for regenerative communities.
PiggyFi Africa: A platform solving money problems for Africans using the blockchain.
We Are Caring: A decentralized protocol to enable the ethical hiring of migrant workers.
Yanda: A DAO-based auditing service enhancing the transparency of automated processes.
EcoBytes: A project that converts unused mobile data into rewards.
Bru Finance: A platform that brings tokenized emerging-market, asset-backed bonds to DeFi.
Forward: An exchange that leverages asset-backed stablecoins to offer an innovative FX hedging solution.
DemeterGift: A Web3 project offering donation events as a service to create easy, transparent, and fun NFT auctions.
Güeno: A Web3 anti-fraud solution for fiat and crypto.
Acc.Eth: A place to create, sell, or buy tickets to events on Celo or Rally.
PixelAva: A universal token-swapper built on Celo.
SmartLoC: A project that helps international trading partners simplify the order-to-payment cycle.
KR8: An NFT marketplace dedicated exclusively to building an MMA community with the goal of giving back to charitable organizations through the sale of NFTs.
Nine Celo Camp Batch 5 finalists will present to the Celo community, investors, and mentors on Demo Day, June 14, 2022. On June 23, the community will meet the top two winning teams, who will receive awards of 10,000 cUSD and 5,000 cUSD, respectively; the winners of the Creators Economy, Future of Payments, DeFi, Financial Inclusion, and Build for All awards, who will receive 3,000 cUSD each; and the five teams that will receive the Celo Tenet Award of 2,000 cUSD each.
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