GitPOAP, an NFT minting platform that allows software projects to recognise meaningful contributions, has raised $4.28M in a seed funding round.
The round was co-led by Inflection.xyz and Libertus Capital and saw participation from Avalanche VC, Protocol Labs, and POAP, as well as notable angel investors, including former CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at a16z Balaji Srinivasan, POAP Founder Patricio Worthalter, and industry names Anthony Sassano, Superphiz and Mariano Conti amongst others.
GitPOAP will use the funds to grow its team, onboard more projects, and build deeper integrations to bring value and utility to the GitPOAP ecosystem.
Contributor recognition platform
Founded by Colfax Selby and Jay Puntham-Baker, GitPOAP is a contributor recognition platform that integrates POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol) issuance into GitHub.
It bridges the space between existing off-chain contribution platforms such as GitHub and the on-chain world of DAOs & decentralised identity through the representation of meaningful contributions as POAPs.
GitPOAP can be used by two sets of users: contributors and project leaders.
Contributors can create public, immutable, and unbiased records of their work. While project leaders can recognize, nurture, and grow their communities of contributors in a novel way.
First, a contribution is made – GitPOAP is configured to identify meaningful contributions that match a configured pattern. Then, a GitPOAP is awarded to contributors as a claimable award by signing into GitPOAP with their GitHub account.
Contributions to 617 repositories
GitPOAP is now memorialising contributions to 617 repositories at the center of the Ethereum ecosystem, including the Ethereum protocol and client teams, developer infrastructure, and tooling (e.g., Solidity, OpenZeppelin, HardHat, web3,js, ethers.js, web3.py), and many other foundational projects (e.g., Yearn, Ledger, Gitcoin, Gnosis Safe & Chain, Rotki).
Colfax Selby, co-founder, and CEO of GitPOAP, says, “People’s POAP collections say a lot about who they are, and we’re extending that by adding professional contributions and accomplishments. POAPs not only serve as mementos of things you’ve done but are also a gateway to a vibrant ecosystem of social and professional applications you can participate in with an on-chain reputation. People’s current online representations are very limited, but the future of Web3 necessitates a more in-depth, nuanced online reputation, and we’re aiming to facilitate this through progressing POAP’s capacities.”
“Many DAOs are currently relying on token holdings for their governance but imagine if you could easily poll the people contributing to your project? Project funding is also inherently difficult – wouldn’t it be nice to have a unified and verified record of who has contributed, so you can channel the funds effectively? Finding collaborators is another challenge. People are multidimensional, and understanding whether someone will be a good collaborator requires going much deeper than a resume. Our team is aiming to solve real-world challenges we have personally faced while bootstrapping and growing other open source projects. Through GitPOAP, we’re laying the foundation for a trusted, queryable contribution record that will enable new ways to connect with potential partners.”
