The TON Foundation, the organization that runs the Open Network (TON) blockchain, has announced a $25 million accelerator program for emerging projects. The TON Accelerator Program is designed to provide funding, mentorship, and other resources to help projects build within the TON ecosystem. The program will offer partnership and mentorship support, with partnerships from leading firms in the TON community.
The TON Accelerator Program is open to various types of projects, with select teams receiving between $50,000 and $250,000 in funding. The program will focus especially on projects in the DeFi space. The funding will come from the TONcoin Fund, a $250 million ecosystem fund launched to support developers and founders looking to build on TON.
Projects will also benefit from mentorship provided by some of the top partners and investors within the TON community. These include hedge fund and AI-powered market maker GotBit Markets, Web3-focused innovation platform Web3Port, and Tonstarter, the leading fundraising platform on TON. South Korea-based Web3 incubator Boom Labs and UAE-based multi-strategy crypto investment firm Cypher Capital Group will also participate in the program.
According to Justin Hyun, Head of Incubation and Growth at TON Foundation, the funding is part of a crucial strategy of ensuring growth. Projects set to be included in the initial selection will be those that participated in the Hack-a-TONx DoraHacks hackathon. The virtual hackathon ran for two months and involved DoraHacks, a leading hacker organization.
The TON Accelerator Program is open to all MVP-ready projects. Those projects with a proof-of-concept or prototype and are seeking initial technical support are encouraged to apply for early-stage grants. This launch marks the first of many different incubators that the TON Foundation plans to support in the future. Funding forms part of its local hubs rollout strategy, and the ecosystem will work to attract new developers and successful repeat founders based across a variety of key global locations.
