IOTA Grants Update: 29 Projects Awarded $3.6 Million to Transform Tokenisation, Invoicing, DEXes

• In the latest round of IOTA Grants, the Foundation awarded $3.6 million to 29 applicants out of a pool of 142 applicants.
• The recipients include DeFa, formerly known as InvoiceMate, and BlackFrog, a platform that facilitates access to funding for small-scale mining operations.

The latest round of  IOTA Ecosystem DLT Foundation’s Grants Program has been announced, with 29 projects receiving a total of $3.6 million to fund their innovative applications.

The Grants Program is the Foundation’s initiative to empower innovators in the IOTA ecosystem, assisting them to make their ideas a reality. It goes beyond just writing a check, offering research, open-source development tools, education initiatives, and connection and networking opportunities.

The Foundation revealed today that the latest round had seen 142 applications as more developers aspire to build on the feeless, scalable, and efficient IOTA network. Of these, only 29 were successful, with the combined grants standing at $3,603,000. This is higher than the previous round, where 26 out of 99 applicants were granted $2,744,000.

Check out the latest #IOTA Grants Program update and meet the newest cohorts of grant recipients!

Find out how they aim to make an impact on IOTA and its thriving ecosystem. https://t.co/0PA4KvJqji pic.twitter.com/Aq4T36344j

— IOTA (@iota) October 17, 2024

Among the projects that benefitted from the grants are:

1. Nansen

Nansen, an on-chain analytics platform, is one of the beneficiaries. The company, which we previously profiled,  is one of the most established in the current cohort and already counts major companies and blockchain networks as clients, from Coinbase and OpenSea to Polygon and Avalanche

Nansen supports 12 blockchains and over 10,000 smart money wallets and has handled over 300 million labeled addresses. It allows users to have enhanced visibility and transparency on blockchain ecosystems, allowing them to make better decisions. The funding will allow the company to expand its innovation within the IOTA network, “helping to attract developers and investors alike by utilizing its more than 900,000 users.”

2. DeFa

DeFa was formerly known as InvoiceMate and was initially deployed on another blockchain before migrating to IOTA. It offers a decentralized invoice financing platform, tokenizing traditional invoices in a secure and transparent invoice management platform that also comes with fraud detection powered by AI.

Invoice financing is a massive industry. In 2021, it was estimated at $3 trillion, with projections that it would hit $5 trillion by 2028. However, many companies continue to lack access to financing, despite holding massive invoices, leading to a lack of working capital. DeFa seeks to serve this audience with a transparent, secure and accessible platform.

3. CyberPerp

Trading remains a critical part of crypto, and despite the advances over the past decade, there’s still massive room for improvement in speed, access, security, and value-added services like staking. This is the sector that CyberPerp targets with its decentralized perpetual exchange, the first on IOTA EVM.

CyberPerp is focused on minimizing swap charges, offering traders high leverage (up to 50X) and eliminating price impacts on trades. Traders can also stake their capital to receive weekly rewards in IOTA.

4. BlackFrog

BlackFrog caters to an industry that blockchain rarely interacts with—mining. It allows small-scale mining operations to access funding and markets under the jurisdiction of Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority

Meanwhile, IOTA trades at $0.1175, dipping 3.7% in the past day, with trading volume dropping 17%  as the broader market soured.