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Sei Creator Fund: Kickoff Round Results

Sei

• 5 min read
Sei Creator Fund: Kickoff Round Results

TL;DR

  • The Sei Creator Fund's inaugural round, powered by Gitcoin Grants Stack, has successfully concluded.
  • A $250,000 matching pool (862,500 SEI) supported projects in the Sei ecosystem.
  • We implemented an upgraded version of Quadratic Funding (QF) known as Connection-Oriented Cluster-Matching (COCM) for fair and Sybil-resistant funding distribution.
  • 2,707 unique voters participated, supporting 63 projects across various categories.
  • This kickoff round is just the beginning of a $10 million initiative to supercharge the Sei ecosystem.

Sei Creator Fund Overview

The Sei Creator Fund, a $10 million initiative, launched its first round on June 4th, 2024, marking a milestone in nurturing the Sei ecosystem. This kickoff round, utilizing Quadratic Funding (QF) through Gitcoin Grants Stack, offered a $250,000 matching pool to support projects building across exciting themes such as:

  • Decentralized Content Platforms
  • NFT Marketplaces and Tools
  • Social Platforms and Fan Engagement
  • Decentralized Crowdfunding
  • Web3 Creative Tools and Infrastructure
  • Creator DAOs and Collectives
  • Web3 Content Discovery, Creation, and Curation
  • Web3 Skill-Sharing and Education

Key Metrics

  • Total Matching Pool: 862,500 SEI
  • Total Raised by Crowd: $38,371.68 (15.35% of the matching pool)
  • Number of Unique Voters: 2,707
  • Number of Unique Projects: 63
  • Median Donor Contribution: $1.24
  • Average Donor Contribution: $14.17
  • Maximum Donor Contribution: $17,139.76

These metrics demonstrate the strong community engagement and diverse projects across the Sei ecosystem.

Funding Distribution Methodology: Cluster-Matching QF

For this round, we employed an innovative approach to ensure fair and sybil-resistant funding distribution, pioneered by Gitcoin:

  1. Quadratic Funding (QF): This method amplifies the impact of small donations, ensuring that projects with broad grassroots support receive a larger share of the matching pool.
  2. Connection-Oriented Cluster-Matching (COCM): This groundbreaking algorithm, developed and first implemented by Gitcoin, addresses some of the limitations of traditional QF.

Understanding Cluster-Matching QF

Cluster-matching QF is an evolution of the traditional QF model, designed to address the challenge of potential collusion or over-coordination in funding rounds. Here's how it works:

  1. Identifying Clusters: The mechanism considers the projects you vote for as signals of the communities you belong to. It then groups donors into clusters based on similar donation patterns.
  2. Calculating Matching Amounts: Instead of treating each donor as entirely independent, COCM calculates matching amounts for each unique community combination.
  3. Rewarding Diversity: Projects supported by a broader range of communities (clusters) receive more significant matching funding. This approach ensures that grants benefiting diverse groups receive the highest level of support.

Benefits of Cluster-Matching QF

  1. Collusion Resistance: By grouping similar donors, COCM reduces the impact of potential collusion or coordinated voting efforts.
  2. Encouraging Diverse Support: Projects that appeal to a wide range of communities are naturally rewarded, promoting a more balanced and diverse ecosystem.
  3. Balancing Independence and Cooperation: COCM doesn't eliminate cooperation; instead, it seeks to find a middle ground where existing community structures are acknowledged while rewarding broad appeal.

Gitcoin's Role in Pioneering COCM

Gitcoin has been at the forefront of developing and implementing Cluster-Matching QF. This innovative approach was introduced during Gitcoin Grants Round 18 (GG18) and has since been refined and improved. By using this method in the Sei Creator Fund, we're leveraging cutting-edge mechanism design to ensure fair and effective fund distribution.

Using our latest advances to QF in the Sei Creator Fund round allows us to balance between rewarding projects with many unique supporters and those with diverse, interconnected support bases. This approach helps create a more resilient and diverse ecosystem, aligning perfectly with the goals of the Sei Creator Fund.

Milestone Tracking using GAP

The Sei Foundation has partnered with Karma GAP to keep grantees accountable and help them share their progress with the community. Grantees are required to use Karma GAP to create their milestones and provide progress updates. All participating projects will be synced to the GAP platform. Grantees can log in with their wallets to add milestones and post updates upon completion. You can learn more about GAP and how to use their platform here. 

Requirement: To be eligible for future rounds, grantees must share their progress and explain how they utilized funds via milestone tracking.

Steps:

  1. Connect Gitcoin Profile to GAP: Log in to GAP with the same wallet used for your Gitcoin profile. (All participating projects are automatically synced to the GAP platform)
  2. Set milestones: Upload your project milestones to GAP. (For example, if you’re a content creator, outline your content milestones with a timeline)

Note: The GAP platform will be ready to support Sei within a few days. Participants are encouraged to prepare their milestones in advance and upload them to GAP once it becomes available.

Project Spotlight

Find the complete results & allocations for round #1 here.

Based on the latest results, here are the top ten projects by total matching funding:

  1. crossover: 72,029.91 SEI
  2. S3 Labs: 64,288.63 SEI
  3. YRRRRR LABZ! (SEI FUCKERS): 59,168.59 SEI
  4. dob: 55,294.63 SEI
  5. Remo's World: 47,492.54 SEI
  6. Massdrop: 46,864.87 SEI
  7. Frensei: 41,581.15 SEI
  8. Popo The Cat: 34,742.79 SEI
  9. Seipex Finance: 34,285.24 SEI
  10. Katz: 24,653.59 SEI

These projects demonstrated strong community support and alignment with the Sei ecosystem's needs. The diversity in the top-funded projects reflects the broad range of initiatives the Sei Creator Fund supports, from infrastructure development to community building and creative endeavors.

Impact and Vision

By supporting projects across various categories, we're building an ecosystem catering to a wide range of user needs and use cases.

As part of the larger $10 million Creator Fund initiative, we anticipate seeing even more projects emerge, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in decentralized content platforms, NFT marketplaces, social engagement, and more.

Looking Ahead

As we celebrate the success of this inaugural round, we're already looking forward to the subsequent phases of the Sei Creator Fund. Future rounds will continue to build on this momentum, supporting more projects and further expanding the Sei ecosystem.

We encourage all the creators, developers, and innovators to look for upcoming opportunities. Whether you're a seasoned contributor to the Sei ecosystem or have fresh ideas waiting to be realized, the Sei Creator Fund is here to support your vision.

Get Involved

  • For projects: Stay tuned for announcements about the next funding round. In the meantime, continue building and engaging with the Sei community.
  • For community members: Your participation is crucial! Keep supporting projects that excite you and help shape the future of the Sei ecosystem.
  • For everyone: Join the Sei Community Grants Telegram Group to stay updated and connect with other creators and supporters.

Conclusion

Thank you to everyone who participated - project creators, voters, and the Sei community. We're building a more decentralized, creative, and empowering future.

Stay tuned for more updates, and let's continue to build and grow the Sei ecosystem together!

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