Swarm Grants
Build something real — we’ll back it
The Swarm Foundation funds work that advances what's possible on the network. Useful products, essential primitives, infrastructure other builders depend on. The bar is substance — a clear idea, a defined scope, and evidence you understand the ecosystem you're building in.
The Swarm Foundation funds work that advances what's possible on the network. The bar is substance — a clear idea and a defined scope.
Grants at a glance
- Total grant pool
- 100,000 USDC
- Applications
- CLOSED
Grant amounts shown in USD for reference. Payments are made in BZZ.
Starter Microgrants
$500 - $2000
Simple Swarm Integrations & POCs
Builder Grants
$2000 - $5000
Functional prototypes with a dev roadmap
Booster Grants
Up to $10000
Endorsed, high-impact projects
Current focus — high priority
Blobs on Swarm
Blob viewers, cross-chain blobs, search over blobs
Data availability
Insurance groups, fee comparison tooling, sequencer integrations
Polygon / cross-chain
Scalable, interoperable dApp solutions across chains
Web3 social networking
Messaging mailbox, social dApps with private identity
Grant tiers
Three tiers, one standard
All grants are evaluated on substance — the quality of the idea, clarity of scope, and fit with the Swarm ecosystem. The tier determines the funding range and the expected stage of your project at application.
Starter Microgrant500 - 2,000 USD
For projects focused on simple Swarm storage integrations or proof-of-concept work. The right entry point to test an idea, demonstrate feasibility, or build a working prototype before committing to a larger scope.
Requires
- No prior grants required.
- Simple integration or POC scope.
- First-time applicants welcome.
Builder Grant2,000 - 5,000 USD
For projects with a functional prototype and clearly defined development steps. You've already built something — this grant helps you take it further with a concrete roadmap and deliverables.
Requires
- Working prototype required.
- Defined development roadmap.
- Clear scope and milestones.
Booster GrantUp to 10,000 USD
Reserved for exceptional projects with significant potential to advance the Swarm ecosystem. Typically for builders who have already demonstrated impact through prior grants, community recognition, or shipped work.
Requires
- Demonstrated ecosystem impact.
- High-potential project with clear value proposition.
The process
How to apply
The process is designed to surface good work early and reduce wasted effort. Community alignment before a formal submission means you get signal on fit before investing time in a full proposal.
01
Do your homework
Understand the Swarm ecosystem and where your work fits. Read the docs, explore what's already been built, and identify the gap your project addresses. A proposal that shows ecosystem awareness stands out.
02
Bring something solid
Prepare a proposal with substance and a defined scope. A demo, a repo, or a clearly reasoned sketch — something that shows you've thought it through. Vague ideas without grounding rarely progress.
03
Look for signal and fit
Share your idea in community channels — Discord is the right place — and refine it with input from contributors and core team members. Community traction before a formal submission is a strong signal.
04
Submit once aligned
Once there's alignment with the community and your proposal is sharp, apply through the official grant form. Submissions that arrive cold without prior community discussion are unlikely to get approved.
What gets funded
Where the work is
The Foundation funds work across the full range of what Swarm makes possible — infrastructure primitives other developers build on top of, and end-user applications that demonstrate what decentralized storage can do in practice. The use cases below show where real-world demand is concentrated. Some are current roadmap priorities; others are persistent gaps the ecosystem will always need filled.
Current focus
- Blobs on Swarm
- Blob viewers, cross-chain blobs, search over blobs
- Data availability
- Insurance groups, fee comparison tooling, sequencer integrations
- Polygon / cross-chain
- Scalable, interoperable dApp solutions across chains
- Web3 social networking
- Messaging mailbox, social dApps with private identity
Always needed
- Streaming & media
- Censorship-resistant audio, video, and live broadcast, with no CDN and no central server
- AI agent memory & economy
- Persistent memory and payments for autonomous agents
- Data provenance & data marketplace
- Sensitive data where consent is enforced by cryptography
- Open knowledge & public data commons
- Public data that persists without an institution paying to keep it alive
This list is not exhaustive. If your project uses Swarm in a way that isn't represented here but addresses a real problem with a real implementation plan, it may still be a fit — make the case in the community first.
Support
Working with the Foundation
Grant recipients get access to technical support in public community channels, visibility within the ecosystem, and direct contact with core contributors when questions arise.
The Foundation isn't a co-founder — you own your project and your direction.
Includes
- Technical access
- Core contributors are reachable in public Discord channels.
- Ecosystem visibility
- Funded projects are featured in Community Calls, the blog, and the Collaborations page.
- Low process overhead
- Once a grant is aligned, it moves quickly.
Requires
Grantees are expected to be resourceful. The work is often at the edges of what the protocol supports, documentation doesn't cover every case, and some problems will require figuring things out as you go. That's the nature of building on early infrastructure — and it's also where the most interesting work happens.
Fellowships
Beyond the grant cycle
Fellowships are offered to contributors who have already demonstrated meaningful impact within the ecosystem. They're not an entry point — they're for builders committed for the long term whose work the Foundation wants to sustain beyond what a single grant covers.
Fellows work on initiatives the network needs to evolve and grow but that sit outside core protocol development. The expectation is self-sustainability: a fellowship provides support to a certain degree, but the project must continue independently once it ends.
Fellowship work typically covers
- A decentralized protocol addressing a concrete problem — communication, personal data management, supply chain, or similar
- Tooling for developers building on Swarm
- Tools or applications for end users
- Technical infrastructure that supports the broader Swarm network
Requires
All fellowship work must be open source. The work should benefit the broader community, not just the fellow's own product.
Current fellows and their projects are featured on the Collaborations page.
Where to go next
Grants are one part of the picture
Developer HubScope your stack
dApps, tools, libraries, APIs and clients - the practical starting point for anyone building a grant-funded project.
Inside SwarmDo your homework first
How the network works under the hood. Proposals that show technical understanding of chunks, routing and incentives stand out.
Research HubFind the open problems
Active research tracks and open problems - a signal for where grant-funded work would have the most impact right now.
CollaborationsMeet the rest of the swarm
Fellows, grantees, ecosystem partners and independent builders - what the network looks like in practice.