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Crypto grant funding: 13 sources, $138K to $12M, 21 rounds

By NAUT Research · · 8 min read

$20.19M Crypto grant funding disclosed by 8 of the 21 grant rounds that name a funder on NAUT, read 7 November 2026. Logos: Ethereum Foundation, Binance Labs (now YZi Labs), a16z crypto, Arbitrum, Optimism, Solana Foundation, NEAR Foundation, Alliance DAO, Bybit, CoinList.

Crypto grant funding comes from chain foundations, exchange venture arms, launchpads, accelerators and a few venture firms, and NAUT names 13 such funders on 21 of the 51 grant or incubation rounds in its database, read on 7 November 2026. 8 of those 21 rounds disclose an amount, running from $138,000 (Ethereum Foundation to Puffer Finance) to $12,000,000 (Ethereum Foundation to Starknet), $20,188,000 in total across 20 funded companies.

Data note. Every count here was read from NAUT's own database on 7 November 2026, read-only. Scope: the 51 rounds NAUT types as an incubation or a grant, of which 20 carry at least 1 backer row. 1 of those 20 is left out and has its own reason: the Grant round recorded for Treehouse Finance, because NAUT holds 2 rows for the same funder, 1 live and 1 archived into a merge target, and no source the check fetched states that grant. 2 further rounds name their funder in the round title with no backer row attached (Mode and DigiShares), which brings the article's set to 21 rounds and 13 funders. The remaining 29 of the 51 name no funder at all, by a backer row or in the round title. 1 backer row inside a round that stays was also dropped: the second funder recorded on Almanak's round carries a description of a life-sciences investor, a wrong-entity merge, so that round is listed here under NEAR Foundation only. 10 of the 21 rounds had 1 claim each put to an outside source, with the outcome of all 10 printed below. The other 11 were not put to an outside source, so every figure for them is NAUT's own record and is labelled as such. Written by NAUT Research.

How does crypto grant funding work, and where is it recorded?

A grant is money a chain, foundation or program gives a team to build on it, usually without taking equity, and an incubation round is the same money with a program attached. In NAUT's data the 2 arrive as the same kind of row: a recipient company, a round type, sometimes an amount, and sometimes a named funder.

The useful part for a founder asking how do crypto startups get grant funding is which funders actually appear. Blockchain grant programs are only part of it: 5 kinds show up across the 21 rounds, and crypto incubation rounds sit in the same data as the grants.

The gap matters as much as the list. 29 of the 51 rounds NAUT types as a grant or an incubation name no funder anywhere on the row, and 20 of those 29 sit in 1 cluster: $500,000 each, all dated 24 August 2026, all typed "Incubation", with the recipient named and the program left blank. A funder search that only reads backer rows misses them, so read the round titles too.

Which crypto grant funding sources does NAUT name, and on how many rounds?

13 funders, ranked by the number of rounds each one holds in this set, with 1 of each funder's rounds as the example, its round type and the amount NAUT holds for it. The kind of funder each one is sits in the 5 groups above. Every row links to the funder's NAUT page, where its team and the rest of its portfolio sit; Binance Labs is listed under its pre-rebrand name, now YZi Labs.

Funder Rounds Example round
6 , typed Incubation, $500,000
3 , typed Grant, $12,000,000
2 , typed Incubation Round, $500,000
2 , typed Foundation Grant, no amount on record
1 , typed Incubation Round, $250,000
1 , typed Incubation Round, no amount on record
1 , typed Coinlist Incubation Round, no amount on record
1 , typed Incubation Round, no amount on record
1 , typed Grant from , $5,300,000
1 , typed Incubation Round, no amount on record
1 , typed Grant from , no amount on record
1 , typed Grant Funding by , no amount on record
1 , typed Grant, no amount on record

The 13 rows cover 22 funder-to-round pairs on 21 distinct rounds, because Orochi Network's Grant round carries 2 backers, Ethereum Foundation and Web3.com Ventures. The other 5 Binance Labs recipients are allscaleio, Bento.fun, Standard Money, Derivio and 4DLabs; Ethereum Foundation's other 2 are Puffer Finance and Orochi Network; a16z crypto's second is inconetwork; and Arbitrum's second is Socket. NAUT keeps Binance Labs and YZi Labs as 2 unmerged rows for the same post-rebrand funder, so the 6 rounds are the union of both and the link above goes to the main row.

How much crypto grant funding did each round pay?

Amount per round, the 8 of 21 that disclose one
  1. Starknet$12M
  2. Mode$5.3M
  3. Socket$1M
  4. ORO$0.5M
  5. inconetwork$0.5M
  6. Nxos$0.5M
  7. Sleepagotchi$0.25M
  8. Puffer Finance$0.138M

8 of the 21 rounds carry an amount, $20,188,000 together, and 2 of them hold 86% of it: Ethereum Foundation's $12,000,000 to Starknet, dated to a 2018 round window, and Optimism's $5,300,000 to Mode. Strip those 2 out and the other 6 run from $138,000 to $1,000,000, which is the realistic band for a first grant. A round with no amount means NAUT holds no figure for it, and for 1 of those 13, Klink Finance's, the source the check read calls the amount undisclosed.

Which rounds hold up against an outside source?

10 of the 21 rounds had 1 claim each put to an outside source on 7 November 2026. 2 came back with the quoted line found on the page it cites, 1 more came back confirmed on a page the checker could not re-read and carries a second source, 6 came back confirmed on pages whose wording the checker could not match, and 1 came back contradicted.

Round Funder What the check found
Quoted line found on the page. TechCrunch, 18 October 2023: "Alliance also invests $250,000 in startups that take part in the program." NAUT's record holds $250,000
Quoted line found on the page. Klink's own litepaper: "Klink has also secured a grant from the Foundation to assist in the adoption of projects within their ecosystem." No amount on NAUT's record
Confirmed, second source attached. The Block, 23 January 2024, reports a grant of up to 2,000,000 OP tokens worth about $5,300,000, matching NAUT's record
Confirmed, wording not matched. $138,000 stands as NAUT's own record
Confirmed, wording not matched. $12,000,000 stands as NAUT's own record
Binance Labs Confirmed, wording not matched. $500,000 stands as NAUT's own record
Confirmed, wording not matched. $500,000 stands as NAUT's own record
Confirmed, wording not matched. No amount on NAUT's record
Confirmed, wording not matched. A second, separate incubation round, no amount on NAUT's record
Contradicted. The 1 page the check read does not support the figure, so $1,000,000 stands as NAUT's own record and nothing more

Read that table as a map of confidence rather than a verdict on the funders. The 11 rounds outside it were never put to an outside source, so their amounts, recipients and funders are NAUT's record as it stood on 7 November 2026.

What this tells a BD team

  • The funder list is a buying list. 20 companies in this set just took grant or incubation money, which means a live budget and a named backer who expects progress.
  • Volume sits with 1 funder. Binance Labs (now YZi Labs) names 6 of the 21 rounds, double the next funder, so its page is the densest single source of recently funded teams here.
  • Amounts are thin. Only 8 of the 21 rounds disclose a figure, so qualify by funder and round type rather than by size.
  • Co-backed rounds are warm paths. Orochi Network's round carries 2 funders, which is 2 routes into the same team.
How a BD team works this list
  1. Start where the volume isBinance Labs (now YZi Labs) names 6 of the 21 rounds, more than any other funder in this set.
  2. Open the recipient pageEach of the 20 funded companies has a NAUT page with its team and its other rounds.
  3. Qualify on round type8 of 21 rounds disclose an amount, so use the type, from Grant to Incubation Round, to judge stage.
  4. Take the warm pathOrochi Network's Grant carries both Ethereum Foundation and Web3.com Ventures, so 2 funders can introduce you.
  5. Send 1 note on 1 channelPick the 1 person whose title owns the decision, then write once.

What this tells a founder applying for a grant

  • Build where the money already went. 6 of the 13 funders are chains or their foundations, and they fund teams shipping on their own chain.
  • Size the ask honestly. The 6 disclosed rounds outside the top 2 run $138,000 to $1,000,000, so a first grant request in that band matches what the record shows.
  • An accelerator is a different deal. Alliance DAO's program pairs money with mentorship, and the public figure for its cohort investment is $250,000.
  • Exchange and VC incubation tracks sit in the same data as grants. Binance Labs (now YZi Labs), Bybit, CoinList, a16z crypto, Paradigm and Web3.com Ventures hold 12 of the 22 funder-to-round pairs, more than the 9 held by the 6 chains and foundations.
How a founder picks a program
  1. Pick your chain firstEthereum Foundation, Arbitrum, Solana Foundation, NEAR Foundation, Optimism and Polymesh each fund teams building on them.
  2. Read who they already fundedEthereum Foundation's 3 recipients here are Puffer Finance, Orochi Network and Starknet.
  3. Set the number6 of the 8 disclosed rounds sit between $138,000 and $1,000,000.
  4. Choose grant or programA grant is money; an incubation round such as Alliance DAO's adds a cohort and mentorship for $250,000.
  5. Find the right nameOpen the funder's NAUT page and read its team before you write to a general inbox.

How to reach the people who run these programs

Every 1 of the 13 funders has a NAUT page, and those pages carry the funder's team alongside its portfolio, so the path is: pick the funder, open its page, read the titles, pick the 1 person whose job names grants, ecosystem or investment, and write to them on the channel NAUT lists for them. Each person page says which channels NAUT holds on file. That is the same route whether the target is a chain foundation such as Solana Foundation or an exchange arm such as Bybit, and it beats a general grants inbox because a named person can answer.

Related reading on NAUT: Crypto incubators: 14 of 19 NAUT rows, $80K to $16.5M rounds and Crypto accelerators: 74 startups in 6 cohorts, 21 in trading.

Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?

Yes. GET https://api.naut.so/v1/investors/ethereum-foundation returns the Ethereum Foundation record with its team and its portfolio rows, each carrying the company, round type, amount and announce date behind this article's 3 Ethereum Foundation rounds, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/investors?q=foundation&sort=portfolio pages through foundation-type funders at 5 credits a call. A recipient's own side comes from GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/puffer-finance, keys are minted at https://naut.so/developer, plans start at Essential $49 a month for 3,000 credits on https://naut.so/pricing, docs sit at https://naut.so/docs/api, and calls are authorised as Authorization: Bearer $NAUT_KEY. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn for the people on those records unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so start a 7-day trial at https://naut.so.

Crypto grant funding FAQ

How do crypto startups get grant funding?

They apply to the funder of the chain or program they build on, and NAUT's record shows which of those funders actually pay: 13 funders across 21 grant or incubation rounds as of 7 November 2026, 6 of them chains or chain foundations such as Ethereum Foundation and Solana Foundation, the rest exchange venture arms, launchpad programs, accelerators and venture firms with an incubation track.

Which funder appears on the most crypto grant and incubation rounds?

Binance Labs (now YZi Labs), with 6 of the 21 rounds in NAUT's set read on 7 November 2026, ahead of Ethereum Foundation with 3, then a16z crypto and Arbitrum with 2 each.

How big is a crypto grant?

Of the 21 rounds, 8 disclose an amount, together $20,188,000, from $138,000 (Ethereum Foundation to Puffer Finance) to $12,000,000 (Ethereum Foundation to Starknet); drop the 2 largest and the remaining 6 run $138,000 to $1,000,000.

Do crypto grants always name the funder?

No. 29 of the 51 rounds NAUT types as a grant or an incubation name no funder on the row, including 20 at $500,000 each dated 24 August 2026, so 21 rounds are the ones where a funder can be read and reached.

Where can I find these 13 grant funders and their contact channels?

Each of the 13 funders has a NAUT page carrying its team and its portfolio, and the same 21 rounds come back through the API with GET https://api.naut.so/v1/investors/<slug> at 5 credits a call. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn for the people on those records unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so start a 7-day trial at https://naut.so.

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