Review the Gitcoin DeSci round of financing, which projects are worth following?

Original author: CHUNZHEN

Reprint: Luke, Mars Finance

After summarizing the 4 rounds of Gitcoin DeSci projects, which projects are worth following?

Since the first round of DeSci financing by Gitcoin in 2022, Gitcoin has conducted a total of 4 rounds of DeSci financing, donating a total of over 850,000 USD (with the matching pool accounting for 739,000 USD) to support 225 projects. In the current discussion around DeSci, this issue of the Public Goods Report takes stock of Gitcoin's 4 rounds of DeSci financing and attempts to identify promising DeSci projects.

GR15 (October 2022)

The DeSci Genesis Round of GR15 attracted 2309 Crowdfunding donors, raising $679,000 (with a matching pool of $600,000), supporting a total of 82 DeSci projects.

The following are the top ten projects in terms of total donations for the GR15 DeSci round:

New Atlantis is developing biodiversity indicators and methods to issue blue carbon credits, enabling marine protected areas (MPAs) to track ecosystem health and generate revenue. Project status: in the early stage of data collection, updates are slow.

TalentDAO is utilizing DAO to decentralize knowledge, talent, and scientific research, and providing a Web3 solution for scientific collaboration. TalentDAO is building a social science decentralized publishing protocol called the Journal of Decentralized Work. Project update: Stalled.

The term MRV specifically refers to the data measurement, reporting, and verification required for carbon credit issuance. MRV101 aims to help small agricultural producers transition to regenerative agricultural practices and obtain carbon credits, ecological credits, and other ecosystem services. Project status: Stalled.

The Science Commons Initiative is a non-profit scientific sharing program dedicated to promoting the democratization of science by supporting Open Source projects (BOINC and Gridcoin) to strengthen the DeSci ecosystem, focusing on public participation and technical infrastructure. BOINC is a permissionless Decentralization computing platform that utilizes volunteer home computers and other resources for large-scale distributed high-throughput computing. Gridcoin is a PoS-based Cryptocurrency used to reward users participating in the BOINC network. Current status of the project: BOINC is still active.

NineLivesDAO is committed to exploring combination drug therapies for feline animals to extend their lifespan. Project update: Currently stalled.

OpSci is a non-profit organization dedicated to open science, focusing on Decentralization archiving, indexing, funding scholarships, developing software, and hosting the annual DeSci conference. Project update: Active, building a scientific data repository based on FIL.

ReSci Network is leading the DeSci centered around ecosystem regeneration, focusing on scientific collaboration for ecosystem regeneration. Project update: Stagnant.

Web3 Women in Science aims to address the serious lack of representation of women in the DeSci field, with the core purpose of: 1) providing channels for women to join new and existing DeSci organizations; 2) serving as a union for DeSci, providing necessary support. Project update: stalled.

Shamba Network is an open geospatial Oracle Machine that can be integrated into various ReFi applications that wish to use satellite data for MRV. Shamba is also building Regen communities across Kenya. Project update: Active, still developing dMRV solutions.

Silvi is helping to establish economic and coordinating tools and contribute to the goal of planting a trillion trees in the following ways: 1) Initial project funds are used to incentivize and reward tree management; 2) Traceability and attribution of newly planted trees. Silvi has planted more than 150,000 trees in Kenya. Project status: Active.

As a DeSci founding round derived from the longevity causation round (GG12-GR14), GR15 focuses on a broader DeSci ecosystem, but popular projects still revolve around longevity and climate-related themes. After more than two years of development, most GR15 DeSci projects have stagnated or progressed slowly, and a few projects with protocols/products have been lukewarm, with no projects receiving subsequent Gitcoin DeSci rounds of substantial financing.

Gitcoin BETA Round (May 2023)

Gitcoin BETA DeSci round as a community round received donations from 267 Crowdfunding donors totaling $93,600 (with a matching pool of $75,000), supporting a total of 65 DeSci projects.

The following are the top ten projects in terms of donation amount in Gitcoin Beta Round DeSci.

Just DNA-Seq is an Open Source suite for genetic data analysis, designed to empower individuals to take control of their genetic information. Project update: Active.

Fundacja Podaruj Dane is the Polish for "Donate Your Data Foundation", enabling Polish patients to donate anonymous medical data to research institutions while retaining full control. Project status: active.

ResearchHub Foundation is a community-managed organization that supports the development of ResearchHub and DeSci through hosting educational scientific events and seminars. The Peer Review project is dedicated to developing a robust reputation system for DeSci, emphasizing paid peer review of preprint papers. Project status: active.

Fileverse aims to be an alternative to Google Suite and Notion, focusing on privacy and offering more affordable prices. Fileverse uses FIL and Arweave to provide collaborative document editing, file storage/sharing, and customizable workspaces. Project status: active, with a previous funding of $1.5 million and the launch of the ddocs document sharing program.

The DeSci Round Operations Fund is operated by the Gitcoin DeSci community and is responsible for funding operations. It uses a Multi-signature treasury to collect funds and manage the expenses of funding operations and governance. Project status: Official project, active.

LunCo is an Open Source collaboration engineering software for complex system design, enabling accessible and integrated design of complex systems, promoting global engineering community and artificial intelligence development. Current project status: active, building Metaverse and launching LUNCO Token.

DeSci London aims to build a DeSci community and hold offline events in London every month. Project update: active, but event frequency is decreasing.

GainForest is developing a Decentralization Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) that employs local communities to collect large amounts of forest data suitable for machine learning using drones. Project status: active.

The Longevist is a comprehensive magazine that selects the most influential longevity research every quarter. The Longevist is supported by VitaDAO and DeSci Labs. Project status: Active.

The Atom Protocol is using blockchain-based platform to reform scientific research funding, to achieve transparent, efficient and community-supported funding allocation. Project Status: Stalled;

If you follow the topic of Beta Round DeSci, it is broader than the seed round. Although the total donation amount is not high, a group of active DeSci projects have emerged. These projects are launching their own infrastructure/products, and several projects have received more donations in subsequent rounds.

GG20 (May 2024)

GG20 DeSci round raised $34,400 from 250 Crowdfunding donors (with a matching pool of $25,000), supporting a total of 29 DeSci projects.

The following are the top ten projects in terms of total donations for GG20 DeSci rounds:

Just DNA-Seq See Gitcoin BETA Round.

Asterisk is a Decentralization organization aimed at promoting global gender non-reproductive health research equity. Project Status: Active.

DeSci Africa aims to build a thriving community and promote the understanding and adoption of Decentralization scientific practices across the entire African continent. Project update: active.

The DeSci Journals is building a scientific journal platform of Decentralization, whose publications will retain 100% of the copyright and share revenue with authors, reviewers, and editors. Project update: Active.

DeSci Tokyo was founded in 2023 with the aim of transforming traditional scientific practices through the introduction of innovative research and data management methods. Project status: active.

Deep Venture DAO is reshaping the landscape of space exploration and Depth technological innovation. Deep Venture DAO plans to create: 1) a community focused on Decentralization and space exploration; 2) a space DAO incubator; 3) Decentralization scientific tools for the academic community. Project status: active.

DeSci Youths is building a platform for the DeSci ecosystem and the student community that impacts the ecosystem. Project update: Active.

DeSci Asia aims to build bridges for the DeSci community in Asia, share knowledge, and promote development. Project status: active.

DeSci LATAM is a non-profit organization aimed at promoting scientific progress in Latin America. Project status: active.

DeSci Round Operations Fund sees Gitcoin BETA Round.

GG20 DeSci follows the development of the DeSci community more in this round, and as a multilingual round, it radiates to the DeSci communities in English, Chinese, and Spanish-speaking areas.

GG21 (August 2024)

GG21 DeSci received a total of $50,400 from 390 Crowdfunding donors (with the matching pool accounting for $39,000), supporting a total of 49 DeSci projects.

The following are the top ten projects in terms of total donations for GG21 DeSci rounds:

Treegens DAO is creating a world where anyone can plant trees and be rewarded. Since GG20, Treegens DAO has planted 60,000 mangroves. Project update: DApp and Token are about to be launched.

Atlantis is a borderless peer-to-peer impact network that has built a series of tools for initiating, implementing, and reporting the impact of climate and social projects. Latest developments: Impact Miner App has been released.

LunCo sees Gitcoin Beta Round.

Drivyx simplifies ESG integration (Environmental, Social, Governance) with blockchain technology and artificial intelligence, enhances the transparency of ESG reports, and provides verifiable impact. Project status: active.

Just DNA-Seq See Gitcoin BETA Round.

GreenPill Brasil combines scientific research with Web3 technology to promote sustainable and resilient ecosystems. GreenPill Brasil focuses on biodiversity restoration, waste management, and climate resilience, and utilizes blockchain and super certificates to ensure project transparency and traceability. Project status: active.

GlucoseDAO aims to establish an open continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device glucose database with Decentralization in mind. Train models to predict blood sugar trends, fine-tune existing public models based on this data, and ultimately establish a DAO responsible for managing data collection and development. Project status: Active.

DeSci Africa, Deep Venture DAO, and The DeSci Journals can all be seen at GG20.

Among the top ten projects in terms of total donations in GG21 DeSci rounds, 5 of them are projects that have previously received large donations, and 4 of the remaining 5 projects are climate-related projects.

Based on the inventory of all 4 rounds of Gitcoin DeSci donation projects, the author has selected the following projects worth following. These projects have either significant updates or have received high donations multiple times. They are: Just DNA-Seq (Genetic Analysis), Fileverse (Shared Documents), LunCo (Complex System Collaboration), GainForest (Forest Data DePin), The Longevist (Longevity Journal), The DeSci Journals (Decentralized Journal Platform), Treegens DAO (Earn by Planting Trees), Atlantis (Influence Network), and Deep Venture DAO (Space Exploration).