Occam.fi Becomes the First Launchpad to Receive Backing from Official Cardano Entities
Earlier today, we officially announced that the IOG-aligned cFund and EMURGO, the official venture arms of Cardano, have made strategic investments into the Occam.fi ecosystem!
The cFund is a crypto-native hedge fund managed by major fintech firm Wave Financial in partnership with official Cardano engineering firm founded by Charles Hoskinson, IOG. The fund employs an early-stage venture strategy and invests in innovative technology companies that are developing applications, businesses, or products to be deployed on Cardano.
Similarly, EMURGO, one of the founding Cardano entities alongside IOG and the Cardano Foundation, is a global blockchain technology company providing funding solutions for Cardano focused developers and startups. EMURGO helps projects develop enterprise-grade applications, and they also build developer tools, invest in startups, and provide blockchain education.
While it’s easy to see at first glance that these entities aligning with Occam.fi is great news for our project and ecosystem, we wanted to take this short deep-dive into why exactly this is such a significant development for Occam.fi and our suite of DeFi products.
Recognition of our efforts for Cardano
From Occam.fi’s inception, we have always maintained that we are working for the good of the Cardano ecosystem. With these strategic partnerships now in place, we can finally prove our commitment to Cardano, and also offer expert advice through our official links to the IDOs launching through OccamRazer — for example about how best to build for the Cardano blockchain.
According to IOHK’s latest blog, the cFund “…looks to invest in, and partner with, leading early-stage projects and businesses that primarily have a focus on the Cardano ecosystem and associated technology.” Once such projects have been identified — with just three projects (including Occam.fi) making the selection to date — they are further evaluated for the background of the team; determining if the early-stage team has the knowledge, skills, resources, and ability to scale their project. With such exacting criteria, the Occam.fi team is delighted — but not surprised — that we met the requirements.
EMURGO have a wider portfolio of companies they have invested in, however their investment criteria is no less stringent. To attract investment from EMURGO, projects must show that they have a working prototype, a strong and committed team, a long-term business and growth plan, and a clear focus on the Cardano blockchain.
By becoming the first decentralized launchpad to attract investment from two out of three official Cardano entities, we expect that those projects truly building for the good of the Cardano ecosystem will make us their first choice of IDO venue. This, together with our focus on continuous platform improvement and building right the first time rather than a sprint to the finish, aligns us closely with the core founding principles of Cardano itself.
Funding and expertise to grow
Naturally, the funding we have received through the cFund and EMURGO is a strong catalyst for the growth of our platform and its continued development. However, more important still are the expertise and expert guidance we gain as a result of our close relationship with the cFund and EMURGO.
With closer links than ever with IOG, we expect our developers — already part of initiatives such as the Plutus Pioneer Program — will get unparalleled support for the development of new features and integration into the Cardano blockchain, as soon as smart contracts go live through Alonzo.
Likewise, these links help us improve and reiterate our vision for new Occam.fi ecosystem components, such as our upcoming DEX called OccamX, our Ethereum <> Cardano bi-directional liquidity bridge which will soon include wrapped ADA functionality, and more. This functionality will extend throughout our products, into our OCC utility token as explored below, and beyond.
Increased utility and continued expansion
Finally, our new strategic partnership with official Cardano ecosystem entities allows us to explore new utility and use cases for our Occam.fi native token, OCC. With deep utility across our products already planned, we can now look at expanding the scope of our partnerships across the Cardano ecosystem to seek out new functionality for the OCC token, and support for our token across other third-party trading venues that work closely with Cardano.
These new relationships will also help us on our mission towards becoming a truly decentralized ecosystem and launchpad, with governance, voting, and participation in the hands of the community — pushing power to the edges.
Looking beyond short-term goals, we can use Occam.fi’s mission and vision as a blueprint for the financial systems of the future, building with a community-led approach and delivering financial services to those communities that need it most. Here, we hope to closely align with the missions of Cardano and it’s supporting entities.
In short, the addition of EMURGO and cFund + IOG to the Occam.fi ecosystem is perhaps the most significant milestone we have achieved to date. As the first launchpad for Cardano to receive this official recognition, we are profoundly optimistic about the future of Occam.fi and our ever-expanding ecosystem.
Thank you to our community for your continued support and joining us on this journey!
Read the official press releases here:
