Today it was announced that the Algorand Foundation made an investment in Valar, a decentralized platform for peer-to-peer staking on Algorand. I take particular pride in this news, having had a front row seat to the team’s hard work, dedication, and rapid progress over the past year. They’re a success story within the Algorand ecosystem, and a representation of the type of support we at the Foundation aim to continue providing to ambitious Web3 builders.
Valar founders Alex Marinšek and Uroš Hudomalj first submitted the idea for Valar as part of the 2024 Algorand Global Hackathon. Culminating last June, their project (then called iGoProtect) rose to the top for its innovative approach to enhancing Algorand staking rewards and the strength of its team capabilities, paired with a clear potential for growth. Not only were they capable developers with a well-thought out concept, but the application was one we believed would find market fit. Team Valar took home the Grandmaster prize in that hackathon, which was awarded onstage at Decipher, Algorand’s flagship ecosystem conference.
Valar went on to apply for the first-ever Algorand Incubator cohort, which took place over eight weeks in the fall. Valar was one of just 14 startups accepted into the program out of over 100 applications. During those eight weeks, Alex, Uroš, and the rest of the cohort took part in an intensive schedule of expert-led workshops and dedicated mentorship designed to accelerate them from idea to viable business. These workshops, hosted by the Algorand Foundation and top industry experts, covered high-impact topics on mastering community growth & retention tactics, unlocking profitable Web3 revenue models, winning strategies for funding, and building powerful partnerships.
Throughout this journey, Alex and Uroš stayed committed and never faltered in the face of setbacks or new challenges. It was thrilling to see them launch Valar on mainnet on January 23. In the two weeks following the release of Algorand 4.0 and the launch of staking rewards, Valar saw 18M ALGO staked on its platform across 120 accounts, representing 6% of all accounts participating in Algorand consensus. And it’s only the beginning.
This team is emblematic of the successful builder and entrepreneurial journey we’re excited to continue fostering here at the Algorand Foundation. If you think you could be the next Valar, stay tuned this year for announcements of our 2025 global hackathon, applications for the Algorand Accelerator (a program designed to help startups gain traction and scale after refining their idea, solidifying their business model, and developing a functional prototype), and more. Sign up to get relevant updates to your inbox, plus receive our Startup Guide – a self-starter blueprint for moving from concept to deployment to scalable dApp on Algorand.
We hope to see you in the next startup program!
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