With the kick-off payment now received, we’re happy to kickoff this thread to update the DAO on our progress on the Hackathon Continuation Program.
TLDR on the program: a program of two phases where we take hackathon builders from customer discovery to building and MVP and market testing it. This pilot starts with 4 teams in Phase 1 and we’ll shortlist down to a maximum of 2 teams for phase 2. The program is structured as an investment, pioneering this capability in the DAO.
Progress update
We have selected the 4 teams for phase 1 from the cohort in the Arbitrum CollabTech Hackathon that happened in October. These projects are pre-pre-seed, meaning we’ll work with them from a rough idea to a solid business case during phase 1.
Two teams have completed KYC and are finalising the contract signing, while a further 2 are still completing KYC.
Below you can see our rationale for selecting these teams.
FairAI
Mission
Fair Protocol challenges the centralization of AI by creating an open marketplace where anyone can offer or consume AI services without relying on a single gatekeeper. This lowers barriers to entry for smaller operators and model creators, Fair Protocol democratizes AI innovation.
Their go to market focuses on data challenges of Manufacturing companies.
Market
- (Traction)
- With advanced AI models now integrated into countless industries, a decentralized marketplace breaks down entry barriers for smaller developers and fosters true competition. Sahara AI recently raised $43M to disrupt centralized AI (source: Sahara AI blog).
- Market.us, projects the global blockchain AI market size to grow from $349 million in 2023 to $2,787 million by 2033. This represents a 23.1% growth of CAGR.
- Individuals and organizations can select preferred operators based on cost, reputation, or specialized model capabilities—amplifying consumer choice while mitigating centralized power. Decentralized marketplaces enable organizations to select operators based on cost, reputation, and specialized capabilities (source: Artificial Intelligence Market).
Founders
- Tiago: Robust blockchain dev background with data science. His master’s thesis on “Decentralized Federated Learning,” plus industry roles at WIT and C. Steinweg Group, demonstrates bridging advanced AI with practical on-chain solutions. He also led agile teams at FIKALAB, uniting AI, IoT, and blockchain in real-world deployments.
- Luís: Full-stack developer specializing in blockchain and AI, having built production-grade software at Imaginary Cloud and FIKALAB. His bachelor’s and master’s in Software Engineering support rigorous approaches to secure IoT and smart contracts.
The founders have strong experience in the problem area they seek to address. Tiago’s work in decentralized federated learning and proven leadership in real-world AI blockchain projects and Luís’s engineering expertise ensures Fair Protocol balances security, scalability, and usability, is a great fit for what the team is trying to accomplish.
Opportunities for Arbitrum
- Fair Protocol’s design naturally dovetails with Arbitrum’s low-fee, high-throughput environment—enabling seamless microtransactions for inference requests.
- As model operators, creators, and curators engage on-chain, they drive increased transaction volume, reinforcing Arbitrum’s utility and fee revenue.
- Fair Protocol can integrate easily with DAOs and,protocols, improving Arbitrum AI capabilities.
Contribo
Mission
Contribo sets out to become the “Fiverr” of Web3, where anyone can post tasks and contributors can bid transparently. By anchoring reputation on-chain, Contribo mitigates fraud risk and fosters a trust-based global community.
Unlike traditional freelancing platforms that often exclude individuals lacking formal credentials or banking services—particularly in Global Majority regions—Contribo leverages decentralized infrastructure to break down these barriers. Its on-chain reputation model gives contributors tangible proof of work history rather than relying on bureaucratic prerequisites, enabling broader economic participation and democratizing opportunity worldwide.
Market
- The global gig economy is expected to be valued at $455 billion by the end of next year. And the freelance market alone is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15% year over year through 2026. This is a massive opportunity for increasing transaction fees from bounty payments, on-chain contracting, and reputation.
- By allowing participants to build their track records directly on-chain, Contribo can increase trust and expand the usage of freelancers into more traditional sectors.
- By enabling onchain payments and serving those without banking/reliable financial infrastructure (e.g. Global South regions), Contribo can draw fresh talent, further bolstering Arbitrum’s user base.
Founders
- Juan brings a strong background in government affairs, strategic planning, and DAO structures. An early Ethereum adopter since 2015, he holds a deep alignment with decentralized principles. His experience in research, public security, and intelligence systems equips him with a solid grasp of security needs and effective incentive design—a crucial perspective for shaping Contribo’s trust and governance frameworks.
- Aleksa has a hybrid skill set in web3 development—spanning front-end, Solidity, and machine learning research. Previously contributing at the Economic Space Agency, he focused on postcapitalist protocols and communal resource-sharing. His drive for building diverse, co-creative environments resonates directly with Contribo’s community emphasis, ensuring the platform fosters inclusion and collaboration at every level.
Juan’s leadership (government affairs, security, and incentive design) merges seamlessly with Aleksa’s skill set in web3 development and communal resource-sharing. This complementary mix of governance acumen and technical depth positions them to realize Contribo’s vision.
Opportunities for Arbitrum
- Contribo’s success on Global South depends on fast, low-cost microtransactions for bounties and gigs—an ideal use case for Arbitrum’s scalable Layer 2 environment.
- Contribo could expand Arbitrum’s user and talent base, and reduce costs for existing projects through geographical arbitrage.
WeLivedIt
Mission
Community-driven AI moderation platform built for content curation that empowers communities to govern their own on-chain AI models.
Market
- Meets an urgent need: responsible AI moderation that upholds community values and safeguards against biased, opaque decision-making. AI governance market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 45.3% from 2024 to 2029 according to marketsandmarkets.
- Opens the door to widespread adoption in communities that demand transparency, fairness, and accountability in decentralized systems.
- Wider potential as a decentralised and personalised content moderation systems to solve issues in social media platforms.
Founders
- Madhuri has spent the past decade challenging traditional economic paradigms by building critical skills for individuals and organizations. At the British Council, she transformed conventional spaces with programs on decentralized leadership and collaborative decision-making—growing the training team from 2 to 10 and forging partnerships with the British High Commission, Chevron, and BRAC NGO. Her digital transformation work broke geographic barriers: at HSBC, she expanded training completion to three siloed regions, and at the Scouts Association, her team’s digitization extended national volunteer training to over 7,000 participants. Now through her consultancy, Infinity Learning, Madhuri is driving impact by collaborating with Web3 startup ImpactScope on outcomes-based financing to onboard major clients to their Decentralised Impact Outcomes Marketplace.
- Alex Zaremba, PhD, is a crypto economist and data scientist with 15 years of experience straddling finance, blockchain, and cryptoeconomics. At Hunter Labs Tech, he led as the Data Scientist, crafting advanced statistical models that drove product innovation and informed market strategy. His tenure at Pareto Investment Management saw him refining quantitative currency trading models that enhanced investment decisions, while at UCL, he spearheaded R&D on the ATRADE and DRACUS projects by developing an Electronic Market Simulator that streamlined complex financial systems. With published research that reshaped on-chain analytics and statistical causality, Alex bridges theory and practice. His mastery of Solidity, quantitative finance, and probability theory underpins his focus on sustainable token engineering, ensuring that token economies are designed with both ethical integrity and measurable impact in decentralized ecosystems.
Madhuri’ has a proven knack for driving impact and community engagement, combined with Zaremba’s 15 years of deep, ethical AI and cryptoeconomics expertise, making this a solid team for their specific area.
Opportunities for Arbitrum
- Uses Arbitrum’s Stylus as a scalable, low-fee environment to run on-chain AI models that continuously improve through shared community input.
- Enhances the ecosystem by merging tech with socially responsible design, paving the way for fair and inclusive on-chain governance.
Nightly
Mission
Nightly specializes in pairing complementary talent for co-founding teams, helping developers and innovators work seamlessly together. The platform provides a hackathon-like environment where future founders meet, ideate, and launch projects with ease.
Market
- Workforce Shift Post-AI
As AI-driven automation leads to layoffs, more professionals will seek entrepreneurial paths. Nightly helps them transition efficiently, creating new project teams at scale. There has been a general acceleration in layoffs in many industries, but also in technology where more than 1 million people were laid off by the largest employers since 2022 (source: https://www.trueup.io/layoffs) - Networking for Builders
With millions looking to pivot, Nightly offers a structured matchmaking experience, connecting skilled tech talent with their ideal co-founders in a world increasingly open to starting something new.
Founders
- Alex is a a serial entrepreneur who has launched multiple successful ventures, Alex is also the CEO of Aratta Labs—a blockchain development guild pushing the new creative economy. He studied at UC Berkeley (including its Rome campus) and has a background in technology, media, and film. Beyond that, he boasts multiple hackathon wins, including projects like MorpI2 ID (Sparkloom) and SolidGrant (ALLO on Arbitrum). View more on Buidlbox.
- Amir is a passionate hacker and frequent hackathon winner, Amir has 14+ years of software engineering experience, an MS in Computer Science, and a specialization in NLP, Big Data, and Blockchain. Among his hackathon triumphs are MorpI2 ID (Sparkloom), SolidGrant (ALLO on Arbitrum), and DeezStealth (BuildHacks). His technical insight drives Nightly’s fast-paced, results-oriented environment, fostering rapid team-building and innovation. Check his Buidlbox profile.
Opportunities for Arbitrum
- Talent Matchmaking
By linking skilled developers with emerging ideas, Nightly fuels a surge of new Arbitrum-based projects. This broadens the ecosystem, drawing more usage and attention to Arbitrum. - Talent Funnel
As big corporations shed workers, Nightly channels that talent into microteams ready to build on Arbitrum, fostering a pipeline of fresh, high-potential projects in the L2 space.