Grants and Funding
Grow with Grants & Funding
The Stellar Development Foundation offers grants and funding to projects building on and contributing to the growth of both the Stellar network and Soroban, Stellar’s native smart contracts platform. Explore our grants and award programs below and see if you’re eligible to apply today.
Discover the Stellar Community Fund (SCF)
The Stellar Community Fund (SCF) is an innovative, community-driven awards program designed to empower developers and startups building on the Stellar network. With two distinct pathways, the SCF offers tailored support for projects at different stages of development:
- Kickstart Award: Perfect for early-stage ideas, this award helps teams refine their Stellar-based concept and find product-market fit after completing a preparatory bootcamp.
- Build Award: Ideal for more advanced projects, this award facilitates project launch and growth by covering essential development costs.
Ready to bring your Stellar project to life?
Bug Bounty Program
Have a gift for catching bugs in code? Individual developers that discover vulnerabilities and exploits in the Stellar protocol or any of the code in our repos can earn awards up to $250,000 worth of XLM. Awards up to $50,000 paid in USD can also be earned for possible exploits discovered in the Soroban platform.
- For individual developers discovering vulnerabilities in the Stellar protocol or any of the code in our repos
Marketing Grants
Marketing can make or break a product. SDF offers Marketing Grants of up to $500,000 awarded in USD, USDC, or XLM to support the growth and user acquisition of projects built on the Stellar network. The funds from Marketing Grants provide support for digital and offline marketing, in-app incentives, PR, and communications.
- For both new and existing projects with a live product built on the Stellar network
Matching Fund
The Matching Fund is an investment track within the Stellar Enterprise Fund. SDF will match investments raised from lead investors up to $500,000 in USD for earlier stage companies interested in building on the Stellar network.
- For earlier stage companies (Pre-seed to Series B)
Academic Research Grant
Students and researchers can earn academic grants from SDF up to $150,000 in USD. Grants are awarded to research proposals that advance SDF's goals of financial inclusion, fast and inexpensive cross-border payments, efficient decentralized markets, and other beneficial applications of distributed ledger technology.
- For students and researchers
Explore
More Funding Sources
The Stellar Development Foundation also offers other sources of funding. There is no application for these programs; we find promising enterprises and engage with them.
Enterprise Fund
The Stellar Enterprise Fund is a venture-style fund for growing the network, including direct investments or acquisitions in companies.
Currency Support
Currency Support funds support issuing stablecoins, offering deposit-withdrawal endpoints, or market-making efforts on the network.
Infrastructure Grants
The Infrastructure Grant program supports projects that provide crucial network utility.
Read the SDF Mandate
See all grants in one place and get live updates on our progress towards achieving our goals of greater access to the financial system.