Disclaimer
All data shown in this report is dated prior to July 28, 2023. Therefore, since then the numbers might have changed slightly.
Overview
It has been almost one year since the community voted to implement the Moonbeam Grants Program (MGP) and the Grant Committee would like to share some results and general information about the work that has been done so far.
This report will only focus on the Committee Grants’ part of the overall Program, and so it will not cover the ‘Ecosystem Grants’. Furthermore, all data presented here was collected on July 9th of 2023 - since the Grant Committee is constantly receiving new applications, approving grants and verifying milestones, these numbers are subject to change.
The MGP has received 298 applications and awarded 42 teams since its creation on Sep 13, 2022. This represents an approval rate of 12.2%. On average, the committee receives 8.4 applications per week.
The First Season of the Committee Grants Program
As part of the collective efforts to make the ecosystem more transparent and decentralized, the community approved the Interim Grant Proposal back in September of 2022. This was a key initiative to make Moonbeam not only more transparent and decentralized, but also to create a cohesive narrative of the mission and vision and how the MGP could help achieve them.
The first season began on September 13th of 2022 and ended on March 12th of 2023. During the 180 days of the program, the committee received 206 grant applications (1.14 per day) and granted 29 teams — a 14% approval rate.
The committee granted 84% of the approved budget for the period — the leftover GLMR were returned to the Foundation. The average TAT (Turnaround Time) was 36 days, which means the committee took a bit over one month, on average, to process an application.
From the 29 grantees that were granted, 13 (45%) already completed all milestones, 10 (35%) are ongoing and 6 (21%) were terminated and/or canceled. The grants that were terminated had the funds returned to the Moonbeam Foundation. Regarding the milestones, the committee reviewed 78 milestones or an average of 2.69 milestones per grant. Out of the total, 41 (53%) were achieved, 27 (35%) are ongoing and 10 (13%) are canceled. The grantees that already completed all milestones took, on average, 64 days to achieve them.
It is also important to note that several grantees require an extended time to deliver all milestones, which may exceed the 6-month period of the Grants Program. This makes it difficult for the committee to compile an exhaustive list of completed projects that were approved during this timeframe.
The Second Season of the Committee Grants Program
The follow-up season has several noteworthy changes, including the creation of a fast-track grant process for grant requests below $10,000, and a streamlining of the screening process to improve ongoing grants’ follow-up and support. The Grant Committee also increased the presence of performance-based milestones within the grants, making projects and teams even more aligned with the overall goal.
As of July 9th of 2023, the committee has received 155 applications (1.31 per day) and awarded grants to 15 teams. This represents an approval rate of 9.7%. In comparison to Season 1, this season had several incremental improvements in different areas, from marketing our Grants Program and increasing the number of applicants to reducing the TAT. Some highlights:
- The average number of applications per day increased 15%, from 1.14 to 1.31.
- The approval rate decreased to less than 10%.
- A 43% decrease on the TAT (!).
- A slight increase of 5% in the number of milestones.
Other Relevant Considerations
All the Collaboration Agreements have an expiration of 6 months. This means uncompleted grants and milestones that were not yet paid are returned to the Moonbeam Foundation, protecting the community’s best interest.
Since this is a milestone-based program, the committee does not approve upfront payments (except in very rare circumstances) and in order to unlock part of the funds, the grantee must complete the specific milestone.
The two considerations above are vital to protect the MGP and guarantee that all grantees will perform accordingly, even after they are approved.
Metrics / Analytics
Season 1
General Information
| Applications Received | 206 |
|---|---|
| Applications per day | 1.14 |
| Turnaround Time (TAT) in days | 36.3 |
| Approval Rate | 14.1% |
Approved Grants
| On going | 10 |
|---|---|
| Completed | 13 |
| Terminated or Expired | 6 |
| Defi | 51.7% |
|---|---|
| Gaming | 17.2% |
| NFT | 20.7% |
| Others | 10.3% |
Milestones
| Total Approved Milestones | 78 |
|---|---|
| Average # of Milestones per Grant | 2.69 |
| Average time to Complete 1st Milestone | 49.7 days |
| Achieved | 41 |
| On going | 27 |
| Terminated or Expired | 10 |
Season 2
General Information
| Applications Received | 155 |
|---|---|
| Applications per day | 1.31 |
| Turnaround Time (TAT) in days | 20.58 |
| Approval Rate | 9.7% |
Approved Grants
| On going | 12 |
|---|---|
| Completed | 3 |
| Terminated or Expired | 0 |
| Defi | 33.3% |
|---|---|
| Gaming | 33.3% |
| NFT | 20.0% |
| Others | 33.3% |
Milestones
| Total Approved Milestones | 42 |
|---|---|
| Average # of Milestones per Grant | 2.80 |
| Average time to Complete 1st Milestone | 29.9 days |
| Achieved | 11 |
| On going | 31 |
| Terminated or Expired | 0 |
List of Grantees
Season 1: Airlyft Alphaday Arc Beefy Boba Braindex Collab.Land Dam Finance Damned Pirate Society EvrLoot Exiled Racers Free Artist GlmrApes Interswap Kona Finance Lemonade Midas Moonbeans Moonfit Moonwell Orbiter One Parallel Finance Koingaroo Roci Fi SmartStamp Snapmuse Swiss Borg Umma Finance ZooDAO; Season2: Beamswap Bugra Calculated Finance Diode DREX Evelon Evrloot Exiled Racers FiDi Karma KYC.Systems Moonbeans ReeFi Hub Unispend W3bLock
Final Words
The committee is very proud to deliver this first Committee Update. The goal is to make the overall Grant Process more transparent and accessible to Moonbeam’s community and the committee is keen on receiving feedback, comments and suggestions on how the MGP can improve even further.
It is really difficult to measure success in a Grants Program since projects and teams need sufficient time to reach their goals and gain traction — and more often than not, the definition of success for these teams might also change over time, as their strategy shifts.
However, the general conclusion is that the committee has a high completion rate of grants that are significantly contributing to the ecosystem. Not only are the grantees adding new features to the ecosystem, but they are also developing Connected Contracts use cases with Moonbeam as their homebase.
The overall grant process is optimized to be efficient and fair to all grantees. Candidates receive an opportunity of a first call to pitch their application, and the processing times (the moment a candidate applies to the moment they receive an approval/rejection notice) have been reduced from 49 days to 23 days. The committee believes these two features (first call and lean process) provide the best experience for all candidates.
Another significant improvement the committee has made is related to the 6-month expiration date plus the milestone-driven approach. The committee incrementally improved several mechanisms intended to protect the funds of the ecosystem and motivate grantees to not only complete the milestones, but to continue to seek growth afterwards with performance-based milestones.
For any questions, suggestions or comments, please make sure to reach out to one of the committee members or post them here in the forum.