On September 17th, Polkadot Decoded Asia 2024 took place in Singapore as scheduled, with numerous industry leaders gathering at the venue. On the day of the event, Polkadot and MetaEra prepared a meticulously arranged lunch for sponsors, guests, and visitors, inviting everyone to join the day's activities, which consisted of keynote speeches and panel discussions. Seraya Takahashi, Ecosystem Development of Web3 Foundation, was invited to attend the event and delivered a keynote speech on "The Future of Funding on Polkadot."

Seraya Takahashi shared updates on the W3F Grant program's main progress, ecosystem funds, and the ecosystem funding initiative dubbed “Decentralized Futures”. He emphasized that the W3F Grant program, aimed at high-quality projects within the Web3 ecosystem, is designed to promote the development of the Web3 ecosystem. The W3F Grant program offers milestone-based open-source grant agreements for fundraising and provides three tiers of grants based on the scale of the project. In addition, the W3F Grant program also provides joint marketing and connects projects with financing channels.

During this keynote speech, Seraya Takahashi also announced a significant new initiative. To advance the gaming and entertainment industries within the Polkadot ecosystem, the Web3 Foundation will provide seed funding for Signum Growth Capital's new Polkadot ecosystem venture capital (VC) fund, DOT Play, aimed at fostering innovation in the gaming and entertainment industries through financial support and technological development. DOT Play was previously introduced as a dedicated gaming and entertainment business development unit, supported by the Web3 Foundation's Decentralized Futures program. Now, with the seed funding of its VC arm in place, their dual mandate will accelerate the growth of decentralized technologies in these industries.

Earlier this year, the Web3 Foundation also supported the seed funding of another Polkadot ecosystem fund—the Scytale Polkadot Ecosystem Fund—which will deploy capital in liquid and private investment strategies to support the Polkadot ecosystem. During the announcement, Seraya emphasized that the Web3 Foundation is open to collaboration with professional investors through various avenues, including seed investments, anchor investments, and co-investment opportunities with other funds.

About Web3 Foundation

The Web3 Foundation is dedicated to fostering innovation and development in decentralized internet software protocols, with its core mission being to nurture and support cutting-edge decentralized technology applications. The establishment of the foundation aims to explore and promote the latest technologies and practical applications in the field of decentralized internet software protocols, with the goal of building a more open, interconnected, and secure internet future.

As a pioneer in the field of decentralized technology, the flagship project of the Web3 Foundation, Polkadot, aims to achieve interoperability between different blockchains, thereby providing a unified and flexible platform for building cross-chain applications.