Aleph Zero Partners with Techstars as Innovation Member for Techstars Web3 Accelerator’s Class of 2024

[PRESS RELEASE – Zug, Switzerland, March 15th, 2024]

Aleph Zero, a leading privacy-enhancing Layer 1 blockchain, is partnering with Techstars, the most active pre-seed investor in the world, as an Innovation Member for the Techstars Web3 Accelerator’s class of 2024.

Techstars Web3 Accelerator works with entrepreneurs building web3 and enabling the next wave of growth in the decentralized internet and tokenized economies. The 12 startups in the class of 2024 will receive up to $120,000 in funding, and access to Techstars global network of mentors, investors, alumni and corporates, along with commercial and technical support from Aleph Zero as an Innovation Member.

Antoni Zolciak, Co-Founder of Aleph Zero, stated: “On one hand, we get to dive into the best acceleration practices that Techstars established over the years of helping to build unicorn companies. On the other hand, we get to assist the founders in their new adventure—and are looking forward to learning from them ourselves, too. It’s an amazing opportunity to impact the web3 ecosystem positively in multiple ways.”

Techstars has become widely known for its prestigious accelerator programs that have nurtured over 4,000 companies, 20 of which are valued at over $1 billion USD. Its investments have helped turbocharge leading technology companies including Chainalysis, TradingView, and Remitly. This new partnership with Techstars boosts Aleph Zero’s visibility within a network renowned for fostering tech innovation, and represents a collective commitment to empowering founders to build the foundations of the new internet.

“As we continue to build and support the web3 ecosystem, we’re excited to be collaborating with Aleph Zero in fostering the next generation of blockchain innovation,” said Pete Townsend, Managing Director at Techstars Web3.

“We’re excited and humbled to support Techstars founders together with one of the most prominent pre-seed organizations in the world” mentioned Piotr Saczuk, Aleph Zero’s Head of Investments. “Techstars has been a home to one of the most successful global startups from every possible industry.”

While the program is largely virtual, week one of Techstars Web3 Accelerator kicked off with in-person mentor office hours on March 11, 2024 in Dublin, including participation from Aleph Zero mentors. The program will feature two additional in-person events – a mid-program gathering in London on April 22-26, 2024 and the program’s concluding Demo Day in New York City on June 3-6, 2024.

Techstars Web3 Accelerator Class of 2024

Meet the companies:

Artizen – Match-funding platform for breakthroughs in human creativity.

Founder locations: USA / UK

The Colony – Shaping the future of collectibles through blockchain technology.

Founder locations: USA / Canada

Ember AI – AI DeFi companion that understands what you want and helps you do it securely, without new apps or hardware.

Founder locations: USA / Colombia

FairAI – Fueling democratized open-source AI through a decentralized marketplace with digital property rights.

Founder locations: Portugal / USA

FileMarket – Multichain data tokenization protocol for storage and P2P digital goods trading.

Founder location: Hong Kong

GenoBank – Ensuring the privacy and data ownership of your genetic information.

Founder location: USA

Lantern Finance – Custodial staking and lending services for the everyday investor.

Founder location: USA

Millicent – The open smart contract platform for compliant real-world DeFi.

Founder locations: UK / USA

PawPass – Digital identification for animals.

Founder location: UK

ProofSpace – No-code platform for reusable identity.

Founder location: UK

SportsyncTech – Empowering amateur sports organizations and athletes with innovative, data-driven solutions.

Founder locations: France / USA

Savvy – Interest-free lending protocol with overcollateralized deposits and self repaying loans.

Founder location: USA

For more information and the comprehensive Web3 Class of 2024 announcement, please visit Techstars’ newsroom.

About Aleph Zero

Aleph Zero is a layer 1 blockchain engineered for speed, data confidentiality, and ease of development. It achieves efficiencies akin to conventional web2 systems, upholds rigorous standards for data protection via ZKP and MPC, and offers a comprehensive toolset for WASM-based web3 development in Rust. Aleph Zero’s versatility is highlighted by over 40 use cases being actively developed, showcasing its adaptability across various sectors and applications. These use cases are part of an engaged community and growing ecosystem of web3 applications that are supported by Aleph Zero programs.

About Techstars

Techstars is the most active pre-seed investor in the world having invested through its accelerators in more than 4,000 companies. Founded in 2006, Techstars believes that entrepreneurs create a better future for everyone and great ideas can come from anywhere. Now we are on a mission to invest in an unprecedented number of startups per year enabling more capital to flow to more entrepreneurs around the world. We do this by operating accelerator programs and venture capital funds, as well as by connecting startups, investors, corporations, and cities to help build thriving startup communities. www.techstars.com