Cardano has never had a shortage of talented builders. What it's lacked is a bridge from that talent to Silicon Valley networks, mentorship, and capital. That's the gap the Genesis program is built to close, and this week, we watched the first cohort pitch on stage after four weeks of building, testing, and rewriting their ideas. Thirteen teams, spanning AI, payments, DeFi, infrastructure, and consumer, some brand new to Cardano and some who've been building here for years. Great judging panel including @TimDraper, @Andytang, @samizb, Aleeha Banerjee from our investment team, and Stephen Wood from @Cardano_CF. It was amazing to see Orion Fund come to life in person alongside the builders. Every part of Orion came together: @Cometa_Labs providing technical mentorship and growth support, our very own @DraperDragon investment team mentoring and advising founders, and @draper_u making it all possible. Best of all, this is only the beginning. Our investment and growth teams will continue working with these founders well beyond Demo Day, with many more cohorts to come across all stages this year and next. Thank you to everyone who made it happen!

The strongest signal an ecosystem can send is founders choosing to build in it. The Genesis Pre-Accelerator cohort is set, building on Cardano at @DraperU in Silicon Valley. A four-week residency for early-stage teams from Argentina, South Africa, Germany, Australia, Andorra, and the US, working in payments, institutional DeFi, compliance, and enterprise tools. Every team gets an investment, not a grant. Founder success and ecosystem upside point the same way. It ends with Pitch Day in front of angels and early-stage VCs. Ready to raise? Apex Growth Accelerator applications close Sept 1. Congrats to the cohort, and thanks to @DraperU and @Cardano_CF.