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Cardano has never had a shortage of talented builders. What it's lacked is a bridge from that talent to Silicon Valley networks, mentorship, and capital.
That's the gap the Genesis program is built to close, and this week, we watched the first cohort pitch on stage after four ing, and rewriting their ideas. Thirteen teams, spanning AI, payments, DeFi, infrastructure, and consumer, some brand new to Cardano and some who've been building here for years.
Great judging panel including @TimDraper, @Andytang, @samizb, Aleeha Banerjee from our investment team, and Stephen Wood from @Cardano_CF. It was amazing to see Orion Fund come to life in person alongside the builders. Every part of Orion came together: @Cometa_Labs providing technical mentorship and growth support, our very own @DraperDragon investment team mentoring and advising founders, and @draper_u making it all possible.
Best of all, this is only the beginning. Our investment and growth teams will continue working with these founders well beyond Demo Day, with many more cohorts to come across all stages this year and next. Thank you to everyone who made it happen!
That's the gap the Genesis program is built to close, and this week, we watched the first cohort pitch on stage after four ing, and rewriting their ideas. Thirteen teams, spanning AI, payments, DeFi, infrastructure, and consumer, some brand new to Cardano and some who've been building here for years.
Great judging panel including @TimDraper, @Andytang, @samizb, Aleeha Banerjee from our investment team, and Stephen Wood from @Cardano_CF. It was amazing to see Orion Fund come to life in person alongside the builders. Every part of Orion came together: @Cometa_Labs providing technical mentorship and growth support, our very own @DraperDragon investment team mentoring and advising founders, and @draper_u making it all possible.
Best of all, this is only the beginning. Our investment and growth teams will continue working with these founders well beyond Demo Day, with many more cohorts to come across all stages this year and next. Thank you to everyone who made it happen!
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Apex Growth Accelerator is wrapping up week 2. Week 1 alone: the cohort raced around SF, brought in $4,000 in a sales challenge (the most of any team), pitched for feedback ahead of Demo Day and finished with a survival experience alongside @TimDraper that founders called “life are Genesis alumni, back for the next stage.
8 weeks to go with @draper_u and @Cardano_CF.
@KenomicAI @raycotarrida @caralvmar, @chatterpay @tomasdm_eth, @AscentRivals: @realgUbGuuB, @Ospree_io: @JavierTamashiro, @origamitech_ @korrom18, @NOMADZxyz @ivan_nomadz @vlad_nomadz, @MentionedMarket @taylorferran, @MasumiNetwork @Padierfind / @samizb @Andytang
8 weeks to go with @draper_u and @Cardano_CF.
@KenomicAI @raycotarrida @caralvmar, @chatterpay @tomasdm_eth, @AscentRivals: @realgUbGuuB, @Ospree_io: @JavierTamashiro, @origamitech_ @korrom18, @NOMADZxyz @ivan_nomadz @vlad_nomadz, @MentionedMarket @taylorferran, @MasumiNetwork @Padierfind / @samizb @Andytang
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Meet the cohort: draperuniversity.substack.com/p/meet-the-ape…
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Orion Fund by Draper Dragon retweeted
Week #1 of our 33rd @draper_u cohort is thru!
Our founders just got back from survival … don’t believe anything you hear
Our founders just got back from survival … don’t believe anything you hear
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A core pillar of our mission is opening the door for UTXO ecosystems to converge.
We believe the next level of adoption needs to be seamless and start at the consumer level.
@xverse is one of the leading Bitcoin wallets and is building exactly that, starting with Bitcoin. Seamless, simple, and UTXO focused.
Learn more below.
We believe the next level of adoption needs to be seamless and start at the consumer level.
@xverse is one of the leading Bitcoin wallets and is building exactly that, starting with Bitcoin. Seamless, simple, and UTXO focused.
Learn more below.
The prolific @DraperDragon published their thoughts on why they invested in Xverse.
Their portfolio already includes MoonPay, Ether.fi, and Ledger alongside Bitcoin ecosystem players like DotSwap & Sats Terminal.
Read more below 👇
draperdragon.com/insights/xvers…
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See you soon @token2049!
We're excited to partner with @Cardano_CF to represent Cardano and the broader ecosystem.
Speaker list to be announced.
We're excited to partner with @Cardano_CF to represent Cardano and the broader ecosystem.
Speaker list to be announced.
Rooftop UTXO Pitch Night, 7 October, LAVO, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
Presented with the @Cardano_CF during @token2049 week. Early and growth-stage teams across Cardano, Bitcoin, and the wider UTXO ecosystem pitching live, up to $500K on the table, allocated at the ' discretion.
Speaking: @Andytang, @samizb and @maxime_bucaille from the Draper ecosystem, @F_Gregaard from the Cardano Foundation, and other speakers yet to be announced.
Registration to attend is still open; see the link below.
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Orion Fund by Draper Dragon retweeted
The next deep tech unicorns will come from founders building fundamentally strong companies, whatever the market is doing.
Talking about what sets them apart Tuesday in Osaka with @christine_tsai (@500GlobalVC), Adit Swarup (@generalcatalyst) and Ken Yoshida (@JETRO_jgc).
Talking about what sets them apart Tuesday in Osaka with @christine_tsai (@500GlobalVC), Adit Swarup (@generalcatalyst) and Ken Yoshida (@JETRO_jgc).
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Our partner @samizb is in Tokyo this week teaching at #VCUnlocked, a venture investor education program by @500GlobalVC and @JETRO_InvestJP!
Samiz will work with Japanese VCs and corporate investors on evaluating startups, share Draper Dragon’s approach to diligence, and join a s capital flow between ecosystems.
We believe educating investors helps build stronger innovation ecosystems. We’re excited to exchange perspectives with the next generation of investors in Japan. @vcunlocked
Samiz will work with Japanese VCs and corporate investors on evaluating startups, share Draper Dragon’s approach to diligence, and join a s capital flow between ecosystems.
We believe educating investors helps build stronger innovation ecosystems. We’re excited to exchange perspectives with the next generation of investors in Japan. @vcunlocked
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Only the beginning!
Love seeing the momentum from the Draper University x @Cardano_CF Genesis Pre-Accelerator cohort. Excited to see what the riverArk team builds next on @Cardano!
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Orion Fund by Draper Dragon retweeted
AI agents need payment rails before they need anything else. Without a way to pay for compute, data or API access mid-task, the agentic layer stalls at the demo stage. This is why x402 matters so much.
@Cardano just joined @solana, @XRPLF and a handful of other chains already an agent pay in ADA for a dataset or API call mid-request. No account, no subscription. The official implementation works and has been proven on testnets, with mainnet next.
Agents transacting on-chain looks increasingly likely. The real question is which rails developers reach for when they build the next layer. I think the plumbing decisions being made now are the ones that stick, and it's part of why the @OrionFund, our fund with @Cardano_CF , backs this ecosystem.
@Cardano just joined @solana, @XRPLF and a handful of other chains already an agent pay in ADA for a dataset or API call mid-request. No account, no subscription. The official implementation works and has been proven on testnets, with mainnet next.
Agents transacting on-chain looks increasingly likely. The real question is which rails developers reach for when they build the next layer. I think the plumbing decisions being made now are the ones that stick, and it's part of why the @OrionFund, our fund with @Cardano_CF , backs this ecosystem.
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We're live.
Join @Cardano_CF for Build, Scale, Showcase, unpacking Cardano's next steps forward at @token2049.
x.com/i/spaces/1wGWj…
Join @Cardano_CF for Build, Scale, Showcase, unpacking Cardano's next steps forward at @token2049.
x.com/i/spaces/1wGWj…
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TOKEN2049 week is almost here
Join us and @Cardano_CF for a live X Space on what's next for Cardano: the ecosystem, node diversity, Project Catalyst, and where things go from here.
Thurs, Sept 24 at 16:00 CEST. Bring your questions 👇
Join us and @Cardano_CF for a live X Space on what's next for Cardano: the ecosystem, node diversity, Project Catalyst, and where things go from here.
Thurs, Sept 24 at 16:00 CEST. Bring your questions 👇
What's next for Cardano? Let's chat about it.
@token2049 week, the side events around it, node diversity, the Project Catalyst pilot and a wider ecosystem view.
We're hosting a live X Space on 24 September at 16:00 CEST to cover it all.
Got questions for us? Drop them below.
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Orion Fund by Draper Dragon retweeted
@blockchainwk made one thing obvious: the AI and blockchain conversation has moved past theory. Loved to see how many people from the local community showed up and how much they look forward to this each year. Lots of builders, regulators, students, and investors in one room who don’t always get to learn from each other.
In almost every room, the questions were about what it actually takes to put these systems into practice, not what they might someday do. Local gatherings like this are what keep the relationships and the harder conversations going after everyone's flown home.
Thanks to the organizing team and @ichuckcain for having me!
Now I'm already in Barcelona, looking forward to the @EBlockchainCon starting tomorrow 🇪🇸
In almost every room, the questions were about what it actually takes to put these systems into practice, not what they might someday do. Local gatherings like this are what keep the relationships and the harder conversations going after everyone's flown home.
Thanks to the organizing team and @ichuckcain for having me!
Now I'm already in Barcelona, looking forward to the @EBlockchainCon starting tomorrow 🇪🇸
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This week, @samizb is speaking at @EBlockchainCon, representing @OrionFund and @DraperDragon. Come and say hi if you're in Barcelona! 🙌
In Barcelona this week for @EBlockchainCon (Sept 16-17), one of the events I most look forward to in Europe for how much of the institutional and builder side of digital assets lands in one room.
Sept 17 I'm on the "Private Markets Onchain: Tokenizing Private Equity, Private panel. Tokenized private markets are the corner of RWA I find most interesting right now, and it's a sharp group to get into it with.
If you'll be in Barcelona, or have tips on what I shouldn't miss, hit me up.
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Orion Fund by Draper Dragon retweeted
Today, we honor the life and legacy of Bill Draper. He was one of the pioneers who helped shape venture capital as we know it.
Long before Silicon Valley became synonymous with startups and venture capital, Bill was already backing people building the future.
He began his and went on to co-found Draper & Johnson Investment Company and later Sutter Hill Ventures, one of the earliest venture firms in Silicon Valley. Over the following decades, he helped finance hundreds of technology companies and entrepreneurs.
Among the early companies backed during his years at Sutter Hill were LSI Logic, Apollo Computer, Measurex, Qume, Activision, and Hybritech. Years later, Bill became one of the earliest investors in Skype. This bet reportedly returned roughly 1,000x.
And his influence went far beyond individual investments.
The firm he built, Sutter Hill Ventures, would go on to become an original investor in NVIDIA in 1993, alongside Sequoia Capital. When it was decades before GPUs became the infrastructure powering the AI revolution.
Bill also took venture capital global. He launched Draper International, one of the first U.S. venture funds focused on India, helping bring the Silicon Valley model to a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Then he applied the same belief in people to public service and philanthropy, serving as Chairman and President of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, leading the United Nations Development Programme, and later co-founding what became the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, bringing venture-style support to social entrepreneurs around the world.
But perhaps his greatest legacy cannot be measured in exits or returns.
It lives in generations.
Bill learned venture capital from his father, General William H. Draper Jr., one of the earliest venture capitalists on the West Coast. He passed that entrepreneurial spirit to his son, Tim Draper, and today the Draper family continues backing founders across multiple generations.
The tends, the technologies, the market opportunities changed throughout the years. Bill’s fundamental belief did not: back extraordinary people with the courage to build what does not exist yet.
Bill Draper helped establish that philosophy in Silicon Valley. We are proud to carry it forward.
Thank you, Bill, for helping build the industry, and the legacy that made so much innovation possible.
Long before Silicon Valley became synonymous with startups and venture capital, Bill was already backing people building the future.
He began his and went on to co-found Draper & Johnson Investment Company and later Sutter Hill Ventures, one of the earliest venture firms in Silicon Valley. Over the following decades, he helped finance hundreds of technology companies and entrepreneurs.
Among the early companies backed during his years at Sutter Hill were LSI Logic, Apollo Computer, Measurex, Qume, Activision, and Hybritech. Years later, Bill became one of the earliest investors in Skype. This bet reportedly returned roughly 1,000x.
And his influence went far beyond individual investments.
The firm he built, Sutter Hill Ventures, would go on to become an original investor in NVIDIA in 1993, alongside Sequoia Capital. When it was decades before GPUs became the infrastructure powering the AI revolution.
Bill also took venture capital global. He launched Draper International, one of the first U.S. venture funds focused on India, helping bring the Silicon Valley model to a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Then he applied the same belief in people to public service and philanthropy, serving as Chairman and President of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, leading the United Nations Development Programme, and later co-founding what became the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, bringing venture-style support to social entrepreneurs around the world.
But perhaps his greatest legacy cannot be measured in exits or returns.
It lives in generations.
Bill learned venture capital from his father, General William H. Draper Jr., one of the earliest venture capitalists on the West Coast. He passed that entrepreneurial spirit to his son, Tim Draper, and today the Draper family continues backing founders across multiple generations.
The tends, the technologies, the market opportunities changed throughout the years. Bill’s fundamental belief did not: back extraordinary people with the courage to build what does not exist yet.
Bill Draper helped establish that philosophy in Silicon Valley. We are proud to carry it forward.
Thank you, Bill, for helping build the industry, and the legacy that made so much innovation possible.
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Orion Fund by Draper Dragon retweeted
The @draper_u Genesis program has accelerated my business!
Validated my positioning, connected me with my customers and launched me with Gusto!
Cardano is going to change the world.
And, programs like this are what we need to onboard the next generation of builders!
I can't wait for what's next! 🚀
Validated my positioning, connected me with my customers and launched me with Gusto!
Cardano is going to change the world.
And, programs like this are what we need to onboard the next generation of builders!
I can't wait for what's next! 🚀
Cardano has never had a shortage of talented builders. What it's lacked is a bridge from that talent to Silicon Valley networks, mentorship, and capital.
That's the gap the Genesis program is built to close, and this week, we watched the first cohort pitch on stage after four ing, and rewriting their ideas. Thirteen teams, spanning AI, payments, DeFi, infrastructure, and consumer, some brand new to Cardano and some who've been building here for years.
Great judging panel including @TimDraper, @Andytang, @samizb, Aleeha Banerjee from our investment team, and Stephen Wood from @Cardano_CF. It was amazing to see Orion Fund come to life in person alongside the builders. Every part of Orion came together: @Cometa_Labs providing technical mentorship and growth support, our very own @DraperDragon investment team mentoring and advising founders, and @draper_u making it all possible.
Best of all, this is only the beginning. Our investment and growth teams will continue working with these founders well beyond Demo Day, with many more cohorts to come across all stages this year and next. Thank you to everyone who made it happen!
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Orion Fund by Draper Dragon retweeted
We're excited to announce that we're expanding ChatterPay into the Cardano ecosystem.
Now +2B people can send ADA, USDCx, USDM, USDA directly on WhatsApp. No new apps.
Just send a voice or text message, and that's it.
The easiest way to onboard new people into Cardano!
Now +2B people can send ADA, USDCx, USDM, USDA directly on WhatsApp. No new apps.
Just send a voice or text message, and that's it.
The easiest way to onboard new people into Cardano!
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Meet ChatterPay (@chatterpay), one of the teams from our Genesis program.
Anyone can send ADA or USDCx to a WhatsApp contact, across a network of 2B+ users, as easily as sending a text.
A look at how everyday payments can work on Cardano.
Anyone can send ADA or USDCx to a WhatsApp contact, across a network of 2B+ users, as easily as sending a text.
A look at how everyday payments can work on Cardano.
Now over 2B people can use cardano:native, on WhatsApp!
Send cardano:native or USDCx to any WhatsApp contact in the world.
We are excited to bring @chatterpay into the Cardano ecosystem.
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Orion Fund by Draper Dragon retweeted
😬 Day 11 was the day everyone at @draper_u had been stressing about.
Pitching our startups in front of @TimDraper.
The tension beforehand was crazy, but everyone in the Genesis cohort absolutely delivered. All that preparation paid off.
Now the pitches go live Friday.
For I think this is important viewing. Treasury funding helped make this program happen, so this is where you get to see what we're building and what came from that investment.
Now… back to building. Cardano will win $ADA
Pitching our startups in front of @TimDraper.
The tension beforehand was crazy, but everyone in the Genesis cohort absolutely delivered. All that preparation paid off.
Now the pitches go live Friday.
For I think this is important viewing. Treasury funding helped make this program happen, so this is where you get to see what we're building and what came from that investment.
Now… back to building. Cardano will win $ADA
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Orion Fund by Draper Dragon retweeted
Bitcoin's liquidity and @Cardano's governance model are two of the more complementary pieces in crypto right now. Most of the industry still treats them as separate conversations, and separate rooms.
On October 7 at @token2049 Singapore, we're putting them in the same one. UTXO the @Cardano_CF, @draper_u and Draper Dragon: founders across Cardano, Bitcoin, and the wider UTXO ecosystem pitch live for up to $500K, at LAVO, 57 floors above Marina Bay Sands.
Project applications are open August 31 - September 14, 2026. Links to event registration and pitch contest submissions are below.
On October 7 at @token2049 Singapore, we're putting them in the same one. UTXO the @Cardano_CF, @draper_u and Draper Dragon: founders across Cardano, Bitcoin, and the wider UTXO ecosystem pitch live for up to $500K, at LAVO, 57 floors above Marina Bay Sands.
Project applications are open August 31 - September 14, 2026. Links to event registration and pitch contest submissions are below.
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