Celo Grants Program (2025)
Executive Summary
Season 1 marked a significant transition for Prezenti. Operating under the Celo Foundation’s newly introduced Season-based structure and stage-gated criteria, this round fundamentally changed who could apply, what success looked like, and how capital could be deployed.
While this shift materially reduced application volume and the number of grants issued, it also sharpened strategic focus: prioritising teams already operating at scale, closely aligning with Foundation intents, and experimenting with new funding mechanisms beyond traditional grants.
In 2025, we signed 17 grants, explored new funding options for Prezenti, worked closely with the Celo Foundation teams, went to Buenos Aires and rode the Celo waves since August.
How Season 1 Went
Under the Season 1 framework set by the Celo Foundation, applicants were required to demonstrate a minimum of 10,000 daily transactions. In practice, this significantly narrowed the eligible builder pool.
Key observations:
- Application volume dropped sharply compared to previous seasons
- Many teams applying were unable to meet the stated criteria
- Several applications disregarded the transaction threshold entirely
- The removal of Pilot (early-stage) grants reduced Prezenti’s ability to support emerging builders
As a result, Prezenti was unable to serve the broader early-stage Celo builder community in the way it historically has. This tension was explicitly raised mid-season and discussed openly with both the community and the Foundation. A decision was made not to lower the application thresholds at this point in time, to remain aligned with the Celo Foundations ambitions. We deemed this the right choice for Season1 given the current state of the network, the ability to iterate on code many times faster due to new tools in the market and a treasury that needs critical analysis.
Boost Pool: What Worked Differently
The introduction of the Boost Pool represented a meaningful shift.
- The invite-only structure, led directly by Celo Foundation DevRel and Growth teams, proved effective for sourcing teams already aligned with ecosystem priorities and boosting transactions. There was a focus on mini-apps and Farcarster in this season.
- Feedback loops were faster and more targeted. We distributed half of the funding available to 14 teams.
- The pool allowed Prezenti to directly support Foundation-driven initiatives rather than rely solely on open application flows
While this limited openness, we believe and hope it improved strategic alignment and execution velocity.
Experimenting Beyond Grants
In parallel, Prezenti explored non-grant capital structures, including a loan-based funding model. At this point in time we are unable to divulge the nature of this agreement but it has utilized a day 1 partnership and $200,000 cUSD. While still early, this approach may represent a more capital-efficient mechanism for supporting mature teams in future seasons. More to come on this in due course.
Metrics & KPIs
Season 1 KPIs were defined upfront. Due to the structural changes and reduced application volume, several metrics were not met in absolute terms. However, in many cases, deviation reflected intentional prioritisation of quality and alignment over volume.
KPI Summary
Here’s your table converted to proper markdown:
| KPI | Status | Data | Comment/update |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forum updates | Achieved | can be found here | |
| Multisig Transaction Logs | Achieved | can be found here | |
| Governance Engagement | Achieved | can be found here | |
| One standard grant round fully delivered | Achieved | Peach and Boost rounds open & delivered from 27 Aug - 31 Dec 2025 | Extended from closing on 13.12 to 31.12 to allow maximum application time, esp after DevConnect. |
| At least 23 grants signed | Behind schedule | We signed 17 contracts. Low numbers explained in this post. | The structure was different than we originally anticipated for this metric. We adapted and focussed on quality that would address the intents rather than on quantity |
| No. of grants issued vs planned | Behind schedule | Lower grant numbers are explored in this post. | As above |
| Grantee feedback given to rejected applicants | Achieved | All rejected applicants received tailored feedback. | Every applicant received a feedback email. |
| Post grant surveys issued and data analyzed. | Achieved | Document | Visual | See below for more explanation |
| Aggregated daily tx’s of grantees (average over a 7 day period)* | Achieved | *Currently gathering data that will be added shortly | |
| Aggregated monthly tx’s of grantees after all grants are completed* | Achieved | *This data will be added at a future date as grants are all completed | |
| Total blockchain transactions driven by grantees since grants awarded* | Achieved | *This data will be added at a future date as grants are all completed | |
| Percentage of additional funding secured by grantees, where possible to source. | Behind schedule | Not available due to late signing of many grantees. | |
| Deliver 1-2 case studies highlighting transformational outcomes and key learning | Achieved | 1x case studies created | Miniplay case study |
| Host 1-2 showcases highlighting previous grantees | Achieved | 1x showcase delivered in September | Sept showcase here. Lack of appetite with many global conferences happening in Nov 2025 for a 2nd showcase. |
Portfolio Overview
As noted raw numbers indicate slower grant allocation, context is critical:
- Focus shifted to higher-quality, higher-impact teams
- Several mini-app studios and aligned initiatives were onboarded
- The portfolio aligned more tightly with Celo’s current network priorities
As highlighted in our November forum update, this trade-off was explicit and intentional.
Applications & Contracts (Historical)
Current Portfolio Status
Prezenti is currently supporting 19 active grants (at the end of Dec 2025), expected to complete by Q2 2026 at the earliest.
If no further funding is secured after completion of existing obligations, Prezenti will:
- Wind down operations responsibly
- Return any unspent operational funds to the Celo Treasury
Budget Overview (Planned vs Spent)
This covers August 2025 - January 2026
Season 1 Budget: $470,000 cUSD
Season 1 Spend: $383,010 cUSD
Remaining spend: $86,970 cUSD
Grant Pool Safes and link to all our Prezenti transaction logs here:
- Growth Pool: 0x3C9a27cd6d3CaF595aa5088001482664215f8Da7
- Boost Pool: 0xdCc89C89c3705D90EebFF3db911CCefA8C0B8d5F
- Admin Safe: 0x03344b9FCDdE6BE2FEF42876dB8fDc0696Ec688F
- Partnership: 0x4eb2d379b7b74aeff190898e049dfd4687a45512
- Boost: 0xd0622d262a1b912da6b587f5df7017f3a02462af
- Master: 0xa5c9389a0ce1bfe24ff883e761ff313225c77d44
- Pilot pool: 0xdcc89c89c3705d90eebff3db911ccefa8c0b8d5f
- Hot Wallet: 0x8e3c938c5f84f5ecb8355dc58c0916ad2610dbae
- Scale pool: 0xd1e5488b44af038f2b220d1e53f0cb068904e3b3
- Micro pool: 0xa0bfa96a40cb3aead1a34cffc1301226dbc5d2ec
Prezenti proposes to retain the unspent $70k cUSD for the Boost pool grants to allow for an immediate follow on Season 2 Boost pool which can start immediately, rather than returning the funds and asking for a new Boost allocation. This would be included in a Season 2 proposal.
*Prezenti has $40k cUSD in unspent funds from terminated grants and unclaimed milestones from recent grants. We are using part of these reserves to ring-fence funding for a third possible Growth grant. The grant is intended for a project that has reached contract stage but is currently on pause due to ongoing external factors.
Teams we funded in Season 1 include:
| Boost | Growth | Other |
|---|---|---|
| Celo Boost | Staex | Day 1 partnership - announcement tba |
| Stack’n Finance | Solo Labs | |
| Blockroll | 1x growth paused at contract | |
| Abroad Finance | ||
| Lendoor | ||
| Piggy Wallet | ||
| TrenchVerse | ||
| Hoccus Labs/ Quali | ||
| Psy Labs(Celo Crossword) | ||
| Tradcast | ||
| Waffles | ||
| Miniplay | ||
| Delulu | ||
| Yourstruly |
Global Collaboration update
- Developed and strengthened collaboration with Celo DevRel and Ecosystem Growth teams (especially via Boost)
- Worked with Celo Camp to source aligned teams
- Reduced engagement with Regional DAOs due to governance timing and budget constraints; intent to re-engage in Season 2
- VC outreach conducted (1Confirmation, Lava, Electric Capital) to encourage downstream funding, however, little traction with these possible partners at this stage.
- Strengthened our partnership with Karma for ecosystem-wide data tooling
- X (Twitter) following grew by 700% from 120+ to 975 followers
Grant Operations
- Charmverse was used for applications; however, friction has been identified and alternatives are under consideration for season 2.
- Continued dogfooding of Forti as a grantee showcase platform (launching on MiniPay)
- KarmaGAP adopted for ecosystem-wide application standardisation
- AWS Activate credits not secured due to eligibility constraints.
Grantee & Community Feedback
To complement this retrospective, we issued a short post-season feedback survey to applicants and ecosystem participants in Dec 2025. While the response set was small (10 respondents), it provided a useful signal.
Overall sentiment toward Prezenti was mixed but constructive, skewing positive:
- A majority of respondents rated their overall impression of Prezenti as positive or very positive
- Neutral responses largely reflected frustration with Season 1 eligibility thresholds, rather than with Prezenti’s operations or intent
- Negative feedback was consistently tied to misalignment between grant size, transaction requirements, and team maturity
Most respondents indicated they understood Prezenti’s purpose clearly and felt the team was operating in good faith under the constraints of the Season 1 framework. Awareness of the Season 1 Intents and stages was generally high, though several respondents noted that even with clarity, the thresholds felt out of reach for many active Celo builders today.
Importantly, a strong majority supported Prezenti continuing into a Season 2, with feedback emphasising:
- clearer segmentation between early-stage and scale-stage teams
- better matching of grant size to required outcomes
- continued transparency and direct communication with applicants
Open-ended responses reinforced themes already raised in our mid-season forum post: that the structure, rather than execution, was the primary limiting factor this season.
(A full anonymised breakdown of survey responses is linked separately here and a visual can be seen here)
Summary & Looking Ahead
Season 1 was revealing.
The 10,000 daily transaction threshold materially constrained who could apply and reduced overall grant throughput. While frustrating for many builders, Prezenti understands and supports Celo’s ambition to drive real network usage.
However, our mid-season feedback remains valid: grant sizes at this scale may be insufficient to attract or meaningfully support teams already operating at the required transaction volume.
Prezenti remains committed to:
- Working transparently with the Celo Foundation
- Adapting funding mechanisms to ecosystem reality
- Continuing to support builders, should Season 2 funding be secured
Thanks for having us as a Celo service provider in 2025!
– Prezenti Team