Back in the last quarter of 2020, with a new crypto bull run on the horizon, Daniel Stockhaus, Tiago Martins and Miguel Leite launched the Polkastarter MVP on the Ethereum blockchain after a last-minute pivot from Polkadot, where the name originated. Polkastarter is now a multi-chain, decentralized fundraising platform.
After great reception from users, the next steps were clear: cheaper transactions, secure and ultra-fast swaps, user-friendly design, and the possibility to buy and move assets across blockchains. The founders got down to work and built everything around fixed-swap pools. This allows projects to list at a fixed price, which is maintained as long as there are tokens remaining in the original supply. The perfect recipe for fundraising on the blockchain!
Since the technology was nascent and still unreliable, security and scam risks were aplenty. This was an unfair advantage for insiders, and it also meant poor protection from bots and non-compliant whales. The goal was to build a public, fair and secure on-chain fundraising platform, as well as an independent and decentralized vetting process for upcoming projects, including incubation and advisory.
In September 2020, the founding team raised $875,000 for product development from a group of industry investors and launched the $POLS token shortly after. Over the first year, Polkastarter's online community grew to more than 600K followers on Twitter and over 100K on Telegram. The core team grew to 30 people and counting!
Until the launch of the Gaming Guild in the latter stages of 2021, the main focus were IDO projects. Polkastarter's biggest raise to date was an NFT LAND sale in March 2022, with a record-breaking $3M for Cryptoverse.vip.
So far, Polkastarter has launched 102 projects, raising over $45 million, with 30,000 unique participants and 80,000 funding participations. Projects ranged from GameFi, DeFi, Web3 and NFTs, to Infrastructure and CeFi.
The $POLS token hit an ATH of $7.41 and it continues to represent the basis of Polkastarter today. The platform's metric is POLS Power, which is calculated based on how many POLS a user stakes in the Polkastarter smart contract. Staking gives users increased chances of entering project launches.
Polkastarter has also launched its own range of NFTs, Paulie Diamond Hands. These utility NFTs gave loyal POLS holders added benefits when entering IDOs in December 2021. Emerald Paulie, the last active Paulie, allows a single user to enter every IDO in 2022. Lucky!
The team aims to continue building the leading decentralized fundraising platform that allows users to make well-informed decisions and participate in high potential IDOs, NFT sales and Gaming projects, while allowing companies to successfully fundraise and kickstart their projects as well as benefit from Polkastarter's growing experience and network.
