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Funding and grants

Cardano funds builders through several independent channels. They change over time. Rounds open and close, programs move between stewards, and new ones appear, so treat this as a map of the landscape and follow each link for the current status. There is no single right door. Pick the avenues that fit what you are building and how far along you are.

Project Catalyst​

Project Catalyst is Cardano's community innovation fund. Builders submit proposals, ada holders vote, and funded projects deliver against milestones. It has distributed over $150M across thousands of proposals since it began.

Catalyst is moving stewardship to the Cardano Foundation, and rounds can pause between funds while that settles. Check the Catalyst site for whether a round is open and what the current process looks like before you plan around it.

Good fit for new ideas, prototypes, and community-facing projects that can rally voter support.

On-chain treasury​

Cardano's treasury is governed on-chain under CIP-1694. Anyone can submit a treasury withdrawal as a governance action, which DReps and the Constitutional Committee then vote on. This is the route for larger, ecosystem-level work with clear community benefit.

Draft and submit an action with GovTool, and see staking and governance for how the process works under the hood. Organizations like Intersect and PRAGMA often help coordinate due diligence and disbursement for approved proposals.

Good fit for mature projects, shared infrastructure, and protocol-level improvements.

Intersect grants​

Intersect administers grants and contracts for work that keeps the network running and growing, from core infrastructure to tooling. Members can apply for funding tied to specific initiatives. See Intersect's funding opportunities for what is currently open.

Good fit for infrastructure, tooling, and continuity work the ecosystem depends on.

Maintainer Retainer Program​

If you maintain an open-source repository the ecosystem relies on, Intersect's Maintainer Retainer Program provides recurring funding so critical projects stay secure and actively maintained. It is part of Intersect's Paid Open Source Model, with Core and Community Maintainer roles, overseen by the Open Source and Technical Steering Committees.

Good fit for maintainers of established libraries and tools, rather than one-off builds.

Accelerators​

Accelerators take early-stage teams through a fixed-term, cohort-based program of mentorship, technical and go-to-market support, and investor access, usually with a milestone contribution or investment attached rather than a grant you keep.

Orion Fund is an $80M ecosystem fund run by Draper Dragon, with the Cardano Foundation as constitutional administrator. It backs Cardano-native and Cardano-integrated companies from acceleration stage through Series A, focuses on real-world assets and institutional DeFi, and develops founders through Draper University's residencies. It is the largest accelerator initiative in the ecosystem.

The Cardano Foundation's Cardano Accelerator Program, part of its Venture Hub, runs themed cohorts of early-stage startups through technical sessions, go-to-market and regulatory guidance, and mentorship, from an in-person kickoff week to a Demo Day in front of investors. Each team receives a milestone contribution alongside hands-on support.

Good fit for startups ready to raise and scale, not just prototype, and able to commit to an intensive cohort.

Other paths worth watching​

  • Hackathons and bounties. Prize money, bounties, and follow-on grants come around regularly. Join the Talent Pool to hear about them as they open.
  • Founding entities. The Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, and various regional hubs run their own programs from time to time.
  • Grassroots pools and DAOs. Community-run funding comes and goes. Ask in the developer community what is active right now.

Not sure where to start? The developer community is the fastest way to find out what is currently funding work like yours.