Near NYC Demo Day: Showcasing Projects and Cultivating Community
Last Friday marked the epic Near NYC Demo Day, an electrifying pitching and networking event brought to you by the Banyan Collective, Mastercard Start Path, and Near Horizon. At 5PM, many of Near’s top builders, founders, and investors saunter into the buzzing hub of Mastercard’s offices to decide where $10,000 of Near Horizon credits would be allocated. These on-chain credits on the Near Horizon platform are exchangeable for services that founders need from trusted 3rd party providers like audits from Ottersec, project acceleration from Outlier Ventures, UX advisory from the User Research DAO, and so much more!
“The Near NYC Demo Day was a resounding success, showcasing the incredible talent and innovative use cases within the NEAR ecosystem. The collaboration with Banyan Collective is a testament to the potential for growth in web3 and we are proud to be at the forefront of this movement, providing a platform that empowers the next generation of projects through Horizon. Together, we are shaping a vibrant ecosystem that pushes the boundaries of building in web3.” — Laura Cunningham, GM of Near Horizon.
During the grand finale of Demo Day, we were presented with an array of amazing projects that left us truly impressed.
After thoroughly evaluating the projects on their disruptive innovation, market understanding, ability to scale, founding team, technical expertise, and presentation delivery -, we are thrilled to announce the three outstanding winners of Demo Day:
1. Keypom emerged as the champion, securing the top spot and earning a well-deserved prize of $5000 in Near Horizon Credits. Their impressive solution simplifies onboarding into Web3, providing frictionless experiences and unlocking the potential of blockchain technology for all.
During an interview with Ming Chan, Ben Kurrek from Keypom shared his insightful perspective. He explained, “I co-founded Keypom with Matt Lockyer, who has extensive experience in this space. The reality is that there’s a significant loss of conversion when people try to use dApps due to the overwhelming complexity of seed phrases, private keys, KYC funding requirements, and other challenging aspects. We believe it should be more akin to the user-friendly experience of Web2, where users can land on an app, start using it, and eventually go through a registration process at their own pace.”
2. Solaire claimed the second position, showcasing their remarkable technology infrastructure for on-chain commerce. Their comprehensive suite of solutions garnered them the prize of $3000 in Near Horizon Credits, acknowledging their commitment to revolutionizing industries such as fashion, art, entertainment, and sports.
3. Self, with its pioneering web3 fraud prevention solution and emphasis on trust and user empowerment, secured third place. Their commendable efforts were recognized with a prize of $2000 in Near Horizon Credits, applauding their vision of fostering authenticity and integrity in online interactions.
These three winners demonstrated exceptional innovation, market understanding, feasibility, technical expertise, and overall delivery, impressing both the judges and the audience. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Keypom, Solaire, and Self for their remarkable achievements and contributions to the Near ecosystem.
As well, we appreciate Activelink and Universe for their valuable contributions to the Near ecosystem. Activelink stood out as a social commerce platform for content creators, offering a personalized space for engaging with fans. Their Fan Engagement Hub allows creators to create, share, and reward super fans, fostering loyalty and stronger connections. Universe presented a solution of democratizing token-gated communities and making it easy & accessible for brands of all sizes
These projects were evaluated by the movers and shakers of the blockchain industry. Huge thank you to Casey Taylor, Head of Portfolio Support at Dragonfly; Henry Nguyen, Investor at Kraken Ventures; Christian Narvaez, Managing Partner at Rayo Capital; Paul Kuveke, COO at Mintbase; Lacey-Ann Wisdom, Principal Investor at Protocol Labs; Isaiah Washington, Investor at CoinFund; Jonathan Han, Investor at Republic; Brian Horn, Market Making at GSR ; Lou Kerner, Founder at CryptoOracle Collective & CryptoMondays.
In our mission to foster a close-knit NYC community, we recognize the importance of highlighting projects that were built and developed in the big apple. It was crucial for us to provide a platform for these individuals to showcase their projects to the crowd, allowing them to share their endeavors! Below are the NY Spotlight founders and their projects:
- Jared of Ready Layer One showcasing the marketing platform ShardDog, which empowers creators, brands, and projects to leverage digital collectables.
- Joanna Orlova and James Waugh of LibertyDAO, a collective of New Yorkers building a better future with local and global communities through the Blockchain Operating System (BOS).
- Elliot Braem of Everything, a type system that helps visualize and organize information on the BOS, and generally helps anyone create anything.
- Orrin Campbell of QSTN, the consumer data user application of the future that’s redefining data, DeFi and NFTs.
- Quinn Armitage of Harmonic Guild, building the next generation of music and music video distribution technology that will pay artists fairly.
- Kenny Johns of Ample, decentralizing and tokenizing the $2T global media and entertainment market. Enables you to launch, distribute, and stream your content on your terms.
- Sharufa Walker of Welcome Home, a realty investment platform that empowers marginalized communities to own real world assets one piece at a time.
A special thank you goes to the Mastercard team for graciously hosting us. We encourage you to check out their Start Path program, as it serves as a valuable resource for projects at any stage. You can apply here. We would also like to express our gratitude to Near Horizon for co-hosting this event with us. If you’re a project, make sure to create a profile here. They’ll also be hosting a Pitch Event at Eth Paris, and you can apply to pitch here. Together, we aim to create an inspiring and supportive community.
As part of the NEAR NYC, we invite you to follow and/or join Liberty DAO with this ShardDog code to stay engaged with community efforts. We have exciting plans to host more of these events in the future, and through LibertyDAO you can also participate in the selection and curation of our events. We look forward to seeing you at our future Near NYC events, as we continue to showcase and celebrate innovative projects in the Near ecosystem.
Thanks for reading :)
