Announcing the Matching Fund

Since the beginning of 2021, the Stellar Enterprise Fund has invested $24.5M across fintech and blockchain companies in the US, Latin America, and Africa. These strategic venture-style investments grow the open-source Stellar blockchain, help demonstrate real and sustainable use cases on Stellar, and give the companies up to one year to integrate with the network.

Just to name a few of our recent Enterprise Fund investments:

• US-based Tribal is extending credit to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Latin America.
• Rehive, based in South Africa, makes it easy for companies to launch a white-labeled wallet on Stellar and enable in-app payments and other Stellar-based assets like reward points.
• Mexico-headquartered Airtm provides a blockchain-based dollar wallet for Latin Americans.

Today, we are excited to announce a new investment track within the Enterprise Fund – the Matching Fund – to help us fund more early stage companies (pre-Series B) interested in building on Stellar. What does this mean?

The Matching Fund will match up to $500,000 USD in investment made by a lead investor in a company and processes deals through an expedited process. The Enterprise Fund itself will continue to support investments across all-stages, but shift to later stage investments up to Series E (pre-IPO).

Why is this important? The mission of the Stellar Development Foundation is to provide equitable access to the world's financial infrastructure. A big part of that growth depends on companies all over the world having access to capital, particularly risk capital, to grow; especially in emerging markets where investors are new to blockchain, including Stellar, and/or have underdeveloped venture ecosystems.

The Matching Fund gives us more flexibility to invest in companies at the earlier stages of development and co-invest alongside investors globally. To be eligible, companies must meet the following three criteria:

(1) Raise Capital: Secure a lead investor and submit your term sheet.

• Funds will be matched up to $500K (minimum check size: $200K).
• The lead investor should be a professional /experienced investor who has made a similar type of investment within the last 12 months.
• Any existing SDF grants will be cancelled prior to receiving a Matching Fund investment.
  

(2) Stellar Scope: Submit a one-page integration scope to be performed within one year of investment close.

• Company’s proposal must use Stellar in a meaningful way that aligns with the mission of SDF.
• Proposals from companies already building on Stellar must demonstrate a new or expanded use of Stellar.
• Company will work with SDF to finalize the integration scope.
  

(3) Screening: Submit business and legal diligence materials and pass a screening with SDF.

• A screening interview will be conducted by at least two SDF members.
  

All investment decisions about Matching Fund investments will be made in SDF’s sole and exclusive discretion. Interested in learning more about the Matching Fund? You can find more information and apply here.

To learn more about the Enterprise Fund, visit here.