Experiments and Builders Grants have been fully reviewed for Cycle 14. Cycle 14 showed a sustained high level of interest in the Optimism grants program with 97 total grants applicants.
During this Cycle, reviewers continued to focus on novel applications. An important value of the Optimism ecosystem is to spur innovation within the Optimism Collective so that public goods have an environment in which to flourish. The Council believes the list of finalists demonstrates a commitment to fostering innovation.
Cycle 14 demonstrated the strength of the review system that the Council is developing. Council members stepped up to support one another and made sure that all reviews were completed on time even when there were logistical difficulties. The system is operating and showing the benefits of several Cycles of development.
As we move toward Cycle 15, the Council is working to refine systems to provide greater feedback to proposers and to make notices to proposers more fluid through CharmVerse. We encourage those interested in making a proposal for Cycle 15 to apply on CharmVerse before August 24 (19:00 GMT) to receive an additional credit for their proposal. Proposals are due by August 31 (19:00 GMT) at the latest.
Here are the Finalists.
Experiments
Clearpool (150k OP)
Clique (100k OP)
Idle (150k OP)
Invest in Music (5k OP)
Let’s Get Hai (100k OP)
Liquity (150k OP)
Mutual (35k OP)
Octav (45k OP)
Qubit Wallet (50k OP)
Wombat Exchange (150k OP)
Builders
Culture Blocks (4k OP)
DappyKit.(50k OP)
DeCommas (40k OP)
EUROe (44.5k OP)
GasHawk (40k OP)
Grindery Delight (10k OP)
growthepie (35k OP)
Hamster (40k OP)
Launchcaster (25k OP)
Liquid Resilience (20k OP)
Locksmith (50k OP)
NFTScan (35k OP)
Meta Game (38.8k OP)
OnlyDust (50k OP)
SafeSwap (20k OP)
Solid Grinder (25k OP)
Solidity Survivor (32.1k OP)
Upnode (30k OP)
Rubrics for the Final Review are available here for Experiments and here for Builders.
The review stage data can be seen in the following table for the last four Cycles.
The pass rate (Finalists / Total) for the last two Cycles and Season 3 can be seen in this table.
| S3 Pass Rate | C13 Pass Rate | C14 Pass Rate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 33.8% | 24.5% | 29.2% | |||
| Growth | 27.1% | 20.8% | 20.0% | |||
| Builders | 45.5% | 27.6% | 39.1% |
The passage rate in Cycle 14 increased relative to Cycle 13 primarily due to an increase in the passage rate for Builders. The Builders Sub-Committee passed each proposal that passed to the Final Review this Cycle. In Builders, the Council experimented with interviewing nearly each proposer in the Final Review. The Sub-Committee determined that the set of proposers represented a diverse group of innovative projects. Given that the requests were generally lower than in the previous Cycle, the cumulative amount of OP grants for Builders was still ~29k lower than in Cycle 13.
Experiments saw a modest reduction in the passage rate. The Sub-Committee determined that the top 10 finalists by weighted ranking were best suited to receive grants this Cycle, in line with last Cycle. Cumulative Experiments grants were also down from Cycle 13 by ~58.7k OP.
The finalists can expect outreach from the Foundation to handle KYC, distribution of the grants, and other details in September. As always, you can reach out to the Council with any questions at grants@optimism.io. Final milestones will be finalized for tracking by Council vote by the end of the week of August 28.
*The conferral of a grant is not an explicit or implicit promotion or endorsement of the projects, their representations, or their underlying products but rather an acknowledgment that the projects’ applications were deemed most suited to receive a grant given the parameters applied by the mandate of Season 4 governance. Grantees accept grants subject to terms, as outlined in the Internal Operating Procedures.