Colosseum secures 60M in funding to back Solanas hackathon participants

Colosseum has successfully completed a $60 million funding round for its inaugural fund designed to expand its accelerator program for startups.
The funds will be utilized to make pre-seed investments in teams chosen for Colosseum’s Accelerator program, which aims to bring more developers and startups into the Solana ecosystem.
“We established Colosseum to empower founders to compete and realize their product vision without the geographical constraints of traditional accelerator models. It’s clear that there is a market demand for innovative, specialized venture products in crypto,” stated Clay Robbins, co-founder of Colosseum.
Colosseum is an independent organization focused on fostering the Solana ecosystem through various initiatives, such as virtual hackathons and its accelerator program. Projects selected for this program will receive a $250,000 pre-seed investment, as well as access to Solana’s network of mentors and venture funds.
Colosseum has been leading Solana’s hackathons since January 2024, when the Solana Foundation transferred some of its initiatives to the group. Under the foundation’s guidance, the hackathons attracted over 60,000 participants across eight programs that have been held since 2020. Hackathon participants have reportedly launched 4,000 products and raised over $600 million in venture funding.
Earlier this year, Colosseum hosted its first hackathon for the Solana Foundation, drawing 8,000 builders from 95 countries. The program received more than 1,000 product submissions during a five-week competition.
“We are dedicated to providing a space where both hackathon participants and accelerator founders have the necessary resources to succeed,” said Nate Levine, co-founder of Colosseum.
According to a spokesperson, the majority of venture-backed startups in the Solana ecosystem originated from Solana’s hackathons. These startups have raised over $650 million in venture capital, with total valuations in the billions.
As of January 2024, the Solana ecosystem boasted more than 2,500 monthly active developers on open-source repositories.
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