Axelar Partners With LongHash Ventures to Launch Its First Global, Cross-Chain Accelerator Program

[PRESS RELEASE – Singapore, Singapore, 20th September 2022]

LongHash Ventures, Asia’s first Web3 Accelerator and one of Asia’s leading Web3 venture funds, today announces its partnership with Axelar, a cross-chain communication network for Web3, to launch the LongHashX Accelerator Cohort 10 Axelar Cohort.

Following the success of its inaugural grants initiative, Axelar is joining hands with LongHash Ventures for its first accelerator program. The LongHashX Accelerator Cohort 10 aims to accelerate early-stage teams and projects building cross-chain.

Axelar is a natural ecosystem partner for the LongHashX Accelerator, given LongHash Ventures’ multi-chain thesis, as the program seeks to accelerate Web3 projects with multi-chain use cases. Axelar connects to over 20 blockchain ecosystems, giving dApp users the ability to interact with any asset or application, on any chain, with one click.

Emma Cui, CEO and Managing Partner of LongHash Ventures, said: “We are very excited to partner with the Axelar Foundation to launch the first global accelerator of the Axelar network. Axelar provides the infrastructure required to enable a secure multi-chain future, which aligns with LongHash Ventures’ overarching thesis. We are particularly excited to invest in and accelerate projects that will think about modular ways to use various ecosystems and connect to Axelar to bring out the best of each chain, and bring us closer to a multi-chain world.”

Axelar decided to partner with LongHash Ventures because of the latter’s extensive experience running accelerator programs. Also, LongHash Ventures has deep roots and networks in the Asia Pacific region while being able to provide project teams access to world-class mentors and investors globally.

Sergey Gorbunov, Co-Founder of Axelar Foundation, said: “The success of the Axelar Grant Program has demonstrated global interest in building chain-agnostic applications. We’ve seen both developers and investors supporting this movement to help onboard the next hundreds of millions of users and simplify multi-chain interactions. Axelar’s unequaled security and functionality has made its ecosystem a funnel for forward-thinking Web3 dApp teams. We’re looking forward to accelerating those teams’ progress with LongHash Ventures as an experienced and well-connected global partner.”

LongHash Ventures is looking to back multi-chain projects that connect to the Axelar network and leverage its General Message Passing (GMP) functionality, which enables developers to call any function on any dApp, on any chain. Using GMP, teams can build “super apps” that compose functions and assets cross-chain into a one-click experience for users. LongHash Ventures is also interested in teams that utilize different chains in modular ways, e.g. storage, off-chain computing, token liquidity, NFT minting, privacy, and more.

Axelar will support projects selected for the program by providing developer and technical support to help them go multi-chain and explore the possibilities of modular implementations to get the best out of each chain for their particular use case.

The LongHashX Accelerator Cohort 10 will include a series of workshops and fireside chats across six modules, namely Web3 Product Strategy & Design, Tokenomics, Governance, Tech Mentorship, Community Building, and Fundraising.

Selected projects will receive $100,000 of upfront investment from LongHashX along with support to help them raise funds from other investors. LongHashX Accelerator’s in-house venture builders will also conduct weekly one-on-one problem-solving sessions to help founders solve their challenges across the six modules of the program.

Projects that are still in the R&D phase or ideation phase are also encouraged to apply. These projects are eligible to be considered for Axelar’s grants programs, which are aimed at the earliest stage of development. Projects that successfully receive grants from Axelar will be invited to join the LongHashX Accelerator program’s fireside chats.

Applications for the LongHashX Accelerator Cohort 10 are open until November 11th, 2022. Project teams interested in applying for the program can do so here. LongHashX Accelerator will accept 10 projects for the Axelar Cohort.

About Axelar

Axelar delivers secure cross-chain communication. That means dApp users can interact with any asset, any application, on any chain, with one click. You can think of it as Stripe for Web3. Developers interact with a simple API atop a permissionless network that routes messages and ensures network security via proof-of-stake consensus.

Axelar has raised capital from top-tier investors, including Dragonfly Capital, Polychain Capital, Coinbase, and Binance. Partners include major proof-of-stake blockchains, such as Avalanche, Cosmos, Ethereum, Polkadot and others. Axelar’s team includes experts in distributed systems/cryptography and MIT/Google/Consensys alumni; the co-founders, Sergey Gorbunov and Georgios Vlachos, were founding team members at Algorand.

About LongHash Ventures

LongHash Ventures is a leading Web3 investment fund and accelerator collaborating closely with founders to build their Web3 model and tap into the vast potential of Asia. LongHash Ventures has invested in more than 60 projects, including Polkadot, Instadapp, Zapper, Astar, and Balancer. We collaborate with founders to develop their projects’ tokenomics, governance, and communities.

As Asia’s first and leading Web 3 accelerator, LongHashX Accelerator has partnered with Polkadot, Algorand, Filecoin, and others to build more than 50 global Web3 projects, which have raised more than $150m in the past 4 years. We are committed to realizing our mission of catalyzing growth for the next generation of the Web. LongHash Ventures is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.