Flow is going big on hackathons in 2023, as we shared at the beginning of the year. We kicked things off with the first-ever Flow Hackathon, which attracted more than 7,600 developers that produced over 250 projects, with top submissions claiming more than $500,000 in prizes.

Many of these projects have vast potential to become sustainable businesses that can enrich both the Flow ecosystem and broader Web3 industry. To make this a reality, they need a path to lead from hackathon project to product, and ultimately a fully fledged business. 

To provide the support teams need to successfully navigate the first stages of this journey, we’re thrilled to introduce the Flow Incubation Program. An inaugural cohort will kick off a pilot of the program – which will take the place of the hackathon launchpad phase – with teams selected from the recent Flow Hackathon. 

In this post, we’ll explore what the program will involve, including a closer look at the participants in our first cohort.

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Kicking the tires: what’s involved in the pilot

The Flow Incubation Program pilot will kick off with 10 teams who will work to complete key milestones over a several-month stretch, with the goal of reaching the next stage of the startup journey. The Flow community has pledged to support them every step of the way, including:

• Mentorship and feedback from reputable VCs and Flow product leaders
• Milestone-based grants provided by the Flow Foundation
• Marketing support from Flowverse
• Cadence contract reviews and feedback through Emerald City Shield
• Assistance identifying developer talent from across the Flow community from the Flow team and Emerald City DAO
• Access to the industry-leading core infrastructure needed to power applications at scale on Flow through QuickNode 
• Access to Niftory’s managed Web3 platform for Walletless Onboarding, NFT Minting/Management, and more

This community-led support will enable standout teams to focus on bringing their projects to life on Flow. And doing so isn’t just the right thing to do, it also makes business sense – new offerings will attract more brands and fresh pools of customers who are primed to discover everything the vibrant Flow ecosystem has to offer. 

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Nurturing the next generation of innovative Web3 startups on Flow

The first cohort to enter the Flow Incubation Program pilot was selected from the Flow Hackathon’s top submissions. These projects demonstrated noteworthy examples of using Cadence – Flow’s native programming language – to write sophisticated on-chain logic, building mobile-first experiences, creating streamlined user experiences enabled by Flow’s Walletless Onboarding and Hybrid Custody solution, and more. 

The 10 projects entering the program include:

• Certifi: Professional documents repository helping institutions and individuals to manage certificates, agreements, and other documents with ease on-chain.
• DapZap: The Zapier for Web3, DapZap offers low-code and no-code tools for automating blockchain actions and custom UI widgets that can be easily added to any website.
• Flow’s Got Talent: Gamifies the Flow NFT ecosystem, allowing users to play with any Flow PFP NFT as an in-game character to compete against other players in epic minigames.
• Heroes of the Flow: This mobile-first game is a fantasy-themed auto-battler that integrates Flow NFTs, built with Flow’s Walletless Onboarding solution to provide a seamless onboarding experience.
• Interflow: Enables users to create custom 3D avatars from NFTs, manage all Flow wallets, and play games.
• MeowAuth: A seamless and secure mobile wallet SaaS that utilizes Flow’s Walletless Onboarding and Hybrid Custody solution to provide familiar user experiences with the full ownership benefits of Web3. 
• Piece: Clips digital moments like Tweets and converts them into collectible Pieces, leaning on the streamlined user onboarding and fiat payments made possible on Flow.
• STRANDS: Allows collectors to take two or more of their NFTs on Flow to generate a unique on-chain DNA strand NFT that can never be minted by anyone else.
• The Game Service Kit: Enables frictionless quick trial and progressive on-chain experiences for games.
• Wonder Arena: A mobile-first, interactive, on-chain gaming experience that features Flow’s Walletless Onboarding and Hybrid Custody solution to provide seamless user experiences.

To be considered for future cohorts, teams need to demonstrate familiarity with Flow, a working project, and the ability to execute on ambitious goals. Future Flow-hosted hackathons will be a prime venue to showcase the above – be sure to stay tuned for the next one.

Nurturing capable teams so they can bring their brightest concepts to life takes us ever closer to the mainstream adoption of Web3 technology – which Flow was thoughtfully built from day one to support. We can’t wait to see what our first cohort builds with the full support of the Flow ecosystem behind them.

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‍Interested in building on Flow? Visit our developer portal to get started, and keep in touch with us on Twitter or Discord.