Nym $300m Innovation Fund opens for applications this November

Gain mentorship and funding with Nym’s commitment to growing a healthy privacy ecosystem.

Author: Nym

October 23, 20236 mins read

Gain mentorship and funding with Nym’s commitment to growing a healthy privacy ecosystem.

Nym’s mission is privacy for all of humanity. But this mission cannot be achieved alone. It depends on a healthy, thriving ecosystem of privacy-preserving apps and infrastructure that shares this vision.

Languages: Bahasa Indonesia // 中文 // Türkçe // Português // Русский // 日本 // Française // Español

And as part of Nym’s commitments to its mission, the Nym $300 million Innovation Fund opens for applications this November — where good ideas will be taken to VCs to raise capital, receive mentorship from the Nym core team, and made a reality.

Read on for more on the Nym Innovation Fund, how it works, and the application process.

Privacy: the untapped market opportunity

Just as in the physical world, citizens in the digital sphere do not want to be spied on. Even huge technology companies are making privacy central to their marketing, and Fortune Business Insights expects the value of the worldwide data privacy market to reach US$30 billion by 2030.

There’s clearly ample opportunity for new ideas, business models, and community projects to spring into action. The antiquated surveillance economic model of the internet is ripe for disruption, and ready to be replaced with an anti-surveillance model that respects the digital integrity of people.

And that is why Nym is proud to announce its ambitious $300 million Innovation Fund will officially open for applications at the beginning of November 2023.

To ensure the health of this new privacy ecosystem, Nym has secured funding commitments from its own investors including Polychain, KR1, Huobi Incubator, Eden Block, and others to support projects that will safeguard privacy in Web3 and beyond by using the Nym mixnet.

The Nym Innovation Fund was launched and piloted last year. The website is now live for open applications — head here to learn more and get ready to apply!

Nym Innovation Fund: how does it work?

This bold initiative follows on from the Community Grants Programme and Nym Shipyard. With a cohort of people graduating with training in digital privacy, the Innovation Fund will support the best squads and ideas, funnelling them through the VC pipeline. Grants will be available through the Innovation Fund, with formalised processes to streamline applications.

This new grants programme operates on a rolling basis, allowing for continuous submissions and the review of grant applications throughout the year. The aim is to offer flexibility and ongoing opportunities for individuals and teams to participate.

The programme will open for applications as of November 2023.

This fund will be a crucial catalyst for Web3 builders, developers, communities, and privacy advocates, providing you with the capital to make innovative projects a reality. Already, as part of an initial pilot programme, Nym has helped Side Protocol, a trustless bridge for Cosmos assets, raise US$1.5 million.

“The Nym Innovation Fund has been an indispensable ally to Side Protocol from our earliest days,” said Shane Qiu, cofounder of Side Protocol. “Their unparalleled advice, technical expertise, and introductions to pivotal investors have profoundly helped shape our trajectory and fortify our resolve. As we advance, the imprint of Nym’s support remains evident in every milestone we achieve.”

At a time of macro-economic uncertainty, the Nym Innovation Fund also demonstrates Nym’s commitment to Web3 as a force for change — one that jettisons the legacy model of Web 2.0, but that can only succeed if privacy protections are in place for users, builders, and communities.

In the words of Nym cofounder and CEO Harry Halpin: “Web3 will only succeed as the future of the internet if privacy exists. A new, better, decentralised internet free from monopoly and censorship needs privacy at its very core, or it will replicate the faults of the legacy web.

“The Nym Innovation Fund is designed to breathe life into good ideas that make privacy a reality in Web3. This groundbreaking programme will ensure the health of the privacy ecosystem but it will also advance the Web3 industry as a whole, providing mentorship and funding during this difficult macroeconomic climate.”

Nym Innovation Fund: the process

A Request for Proposal (RFP) serves as a formal announcement expressing interest in receiving applications related to a particular project the Nym team would like to see resolved.

Typically, these RFPs focus on areas Nym considers important, lacking, or unresolved for the ecosystem.

The focus areas of the initial RFPs are:

Web3 wallets: applications that store private keys, designed to interact with and manage access to decentralised applications (dApps) that can be integrated with the Nym mixnet.
Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs): a protocol that can be used to retrieve data from a blockchain network or to send transactions to a blockchain network from a dApp and can be integrated with the Nym mixnet.
Public Goods Services: essential resources, tooling, libraries, infrastructure, or initiatives that benefit the broader ecosystem and are available to the public as open-source projects. These services play a crucial role in advancing the development, security, and accessibility of Nym as well as decentralised applications (dApps).

If you see an available RFP that aligns with your capabilities, please do submit a grant application!

Within the application template, there is a dedicated section where you can indicate the specific RFP you are addressing.

Interested parties should submit proposals that include:

A project overview, including goals and objectives.
A detailed project plan, including milestones and timelines.
Technical specifications and architectural design detailing Nym stack usage and/or integration.
Team qualifications and relevant experience.
A budget breakdown and resource allocation.
Plans for open-source development and community engagement.

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Alignment with Nym Technologies’ mission and goals.
Innovation and creativity in Web3 wallet development.
Technical feasibility and scalability.
Privacy and security measures.
Qualifications and experience of the project team.
Clarity and completeness of the proposal.

If you believe Nym should support tools or content that are not currently listed, please feel free to submit your idea as an ‘open grant’ through the application form.

It’s time to build the future private internet together with Nym. If you have an idea, please head to the official Innovation Fund website, and plan and submit your proposal when the Fund opens this November!