Gitcoin
Gitcoin is a platform for funding the development of open-source software and other digital public goods.
Website: https://gitcoin.co/
HQ: Boulder, Colorado, United States
Active Markets: Global
Problem Addressed
Digital ecosystems require development projects that don’t always have a clear direction toward profit. Funding goods and services like these outside of digital ecosystems has typically been accomplished through government taxes. Recent advancements in technology have created the opportunity allocate capital towards similar goods and services for the development of digital spaces in democratic, accessible, and transparent ways.
Project Description
By coordinating funding for projects, building community, and making learning resources accessible, Gitcoin supports the creation of digital public infrastructure using smart contract-enabled quadratic voting mechanisms and digital identity tools. The Gitcoin project consists of three components. The Gitcoin Grants Stack is an end-to-end grants solution, creating cost-effective, transparent, and community-driven applications of grant capital to ecosystem growth using quadratic funding models. The Allo Protocol, an open-source funding allocation protocol using on-chain tools to responsibly deploy capital towards a project’s mission. Where the Grants Stack is a self-service suite for hosting a grants program, Allo is intended for projects and applications to develop capital allocation mechanisms, such as quadratic funding. It has a registry of grant recipients, models for custom decision making processes, and payout strategies. And Gitcoin Passport is a decentralized identity management tool, intending to solve for fraud vulnerability, secure and private identity verification, and reputation demonstration. Users verify Web2 and Web3 accounts and achievements such as NFTs and POAPs without centralized storage of personal identifiable information.
Business Data
Status: Active
Constituency Served: Builders
Networks: Ethereum
Known Investors: Electric Capital, Paradigm, Ethereum Foundation, IDEO, Foresight Ventures, Zak Cole, 1kx, MetaCartel Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Naval Ravikant, The LAO
Additional References: N/a
Progress to date
In partnership with Endaoment, the first on-chain 501(c)(3) nonprofit community foundation, Gitcoin unveiled the Universal Impact Pool (UIP) in summer 2023. This fundraising vehicle matches philanthropic giving with a range of organizations providing public goods. Gitcoin’s quadratic funding model allows funds to be distributed to a range of nonprofits through a single donation. UIP launched with an initial $200k donation thanks to a collection of Endaoment donors, the Gitcoin grants program, and Gitcoin corporate matching partners.
In January 2023, Gitcoin transitioned their centralized grants program to a decentralized protocol. This shift represents a transition from Gitcoin 1.0 to Gitcoin 2.0. The project partnered with the Layer-1 blockchain Fantom and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to test the change, allocating $1M in matching funds to support 200 grantees working on Ethereum infrastructure, open-source technology, and climate solutions.
Business Model
Gitcoin generates revenue through a 10% bounty platform fee.
Traction
Gitcoin boasts 270K unique supporters, over 3,700 funded projects, and a $28.2B grantee market cap. Gitcoin Passport surpassed 750k unique passports as of June 2023.
Through their platform, Gitcoin has distributed over $60 million since inception in 2017. $40M of which have been given to early stage builders. They’ve helped over 270,000 supporters reach an audience of 3,753 grantees, and facilitated nearly 4 million complete supporter-grantee transactions. Additionally, they have put together over one hundred quadratic funding pools, with the market cap of their grantees exceeding $28B.