Launchpads have become a staple in blockchain ecosystems. They bring a new structure of order and authentication to new projects looking to introduce themselves to the community and the world. On one hand, they help project owners deal with the technical aspects of their projects such as building smart contracts, marketing strategies, or community building. And on the other, they help investors discover new projects that have gone through a verification process, making them trustworthy and safe for investment.
Think of a launchpad as your real-world accelerator but living on the blockchain and helping Web3-focused or crypto-related startups and projects find their niche and footing within blockchain communities. These launchpads can either be:
- IDO-specific, focusing on pre-sales, Initial DEX Offerings (IDO), and price discovery for more tokenomics-driven startups.
- Project-specific which are more NFT-oriented and help generative art projects build smart contracts, craft roadmaps, develop a marketing strategy, and set up a marketplace.
The NEAR ecosystem is booming with new projects, and launchpads are the quickest way to keep a pulse on which projects are incoming, what they are all about, and most importantly, act as a layer of verification of the project. In the first Guide to Launchpads, we looked at IDO-specific launchpads within the NEAR ecosystem. This second part will zoom in on project-specific launchpads, whose focus is more on generative art projects and not the sale of tokens.
Project-specific Launchpads on NEAR
TENKBay
Both an incubator and accelerator, TENKBay doesn’t just help NFT projects come to life on the NEAR ecosystem; it also helps prospective launchpads set up by allowing them to copy (fork) its open-source smart contract and avoid the technical hassle.
The success of NFT projects depends a great deal on the technical aspect and team that is building for them behind the scenes. Smart contracts, marketplace integrations and setup are important but even just as important, if not more, is the human aspect of marketing and community building, which is where TENKBay comes in.
Engaging and building a community organically off the bat is a real brain twister, and TENKBay understands that more often than not, a good project may need help with crafting a well-defined roadmap, vision and mission because these are the building blocks of any NFT project and their appeal lies in how all this comes together in a marketing strategy and engages a community that is discovering the projects. The owners may be completely new to building projects or the ecosystem, and are committed to helping such projects incubate key guidelines and establish solid foundations. TENKBay currently has over 10 NFT projects in their portfolio that have successfully launched on NEAR and four launchpads that have forked their smart contract as a foundation for their own activities.
The Jungle
A collaborative effort between two NFT projects on NEAR; the AntiSocial Ape Club and Near Tiger Academy, The Jungle facilitates the launching of new NFT projects on NEAR by taking charge of the technical and marketing aspects of the projects, which frees up the project owners to focus on the art, which is the core of the project.
For new projects, juggling with the creative, marketing, and technical aspects of the project can be a heavy load, especially with limited resources. The Jungle launchpad takes the weight off the project team by handling marketing, from creating a website, to building and integrating the smart contract to the website, and verification and rarity tools for the NFTs, and marketplace integrations. More than helping projects launch on NEAR, The Jungle is also committed to attracting projects to the ecosystem by actively promoting the NEAR ecosystem and willingly onboarding already-existing projects that are looking to migrate to NEAR.
UTOPIA
Part of the Secret Skellies Society universe and born from their desire to onboard as many creators and artists as possible to the NEAR ecosystem, UTOPIA facilitates the launching and onboarding of artists and their generative art projects in the NEAR ecosystem.
Art is an immersive process, and the technicalities of the blockchain and crypto ecosystem can be distracting and time-consuming for artists who are non-technical or not versed with the ins and outs of the ecosystem. UTOPIA allows the artists to focus entirely on their art and the creative aspect of their project, by taking care of the mint contract (creation and deployment), verification and listing on a marketplace, installation of sales bots on Discord, and Twitter, and the installation of Discord holder verification bots.
Astro Gen
Astro Gen is a part of the larger AstroVerse Collective, an all-in-one launchpad for generative art artists. Blockchain, smart contracts, and minting are new concepts for most artists. Astro Gen makes it easier for these artists by taking out the technicalities. The platform offers;
KYC Support
The KYC process ensures security and verification, by allowing only verified artists or project owners to create NFT collections.
Generative Art tools
This allows the artists to add specifics like traits and attributes of their NFTs, take a look at their smart contract and prepare their collection for launch.
NFT management tools
This is a dashboard tool for the management of all the created and launched collections of an artist or project owner. Here you can decide to create multiple collections, add to existing collections, and more, all from one convenient place.
Coming Soon
Enleap
Enleap is from the creators of the Tinkerunion project and is focused on non-technical creators looking to launch NFT projects in the NEAR ecosystem.
The creators can use Enleap’s user-friendly dashboard to launch their project, avoiding the nitty-gritty work of building their minting sites, contracts, setting up their testnet and mainnet, or staking structure. Enleap provides the following services;
- Project development and minting on testnet
- Project development and minting on mainnet
- Badge system
- Mint site development
- Staking to earn $GEAR
NAGMI
Near Apes Gonna Make It (NAGMI) is a collective of community-backed NFTs, marketplace, and NFT launchpad, building on NEAR. Currently working hard on deploying the launchpad, the NAGMI team decided to build on the NEAR protocol because of its user-friendliness for both developers and newbie users, nominal transaction fees, and infinite scalability potential. This means NAGMI can develop a launchpad that is just as relatable and productive for artists looking to launch their generative art within the NEAR ecosystem and community.
DRRT
A launchpad for NFTs, DRRT deviates from the usual art mold to focus on music NFTs. A community-powered Web3 launchpad for musicians, DRRT is driven by the idea of creating a closer and more relatable bond between music artists and their audience by having a community.
Launchpads have made a massive difference in the crypto ecosystem, mainly by lowering the rate of rug pulls by filtering projects that onboard into an ecosystem. In addition, launchpads create a credibility system that investors and community members can rely on, while providing a user-friendly path for artists and projects to introduce themselves into the ecosystem. NEAR offers many different options for creators to choose from making it easier than never to launch any NFT project.
About NEAR
NEAR is a sharded, proof-of-stake, layer one blockchain that is built for usability and scalability. NEAR combines the power of both PoS and sharding in a technology called Nightshade, making the chain infinitely scalable without compromising security and decentralization.
