Protocol Labs Partners with a16z crypto to Support Crypto Startup School Participants

Provides resources for 26 visionary web3 startups in 12-week accelerator program

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Protocol Labs, the open source R&D lab building tools to radically improve the internet, today announced a bespoke partnership with a16z crypto to provide targeted support to some of web3's most visionary founders participating in the 2023 Crypto Startup School (CSS) accelerator program.

Crypto Startup School is an accelerator program designed around the specific needs of web3 startups. The 2023 cohort of twenty-six startups, selected from more than 8,000 applicants, spent 12 weeks in Los Angeles receiving mentorship and lectures from industry experts, founder talks, and access to the a16z network.

Since 2014 Protocol Labs has been a prolific incubator and backer of leading web3 startups, supporting hundreds of founders in raising more than $1B in external capital.  Crypto Startup School participants receive access to the Protocol Labs Founders community, a network of web3 founders building the resilient, democratized, and open-source web.

Juan Benet, Founder of Protocol Labs, said: "Equipping Web3 founders with the knowledge, network and capital required to enable them to succeed has long been a priority of Protocol Labs. Our partnership with Crypto Startup School doubles down on helping builders succeed in their projects, providing them hands-on support to build products users love from the ground up."

Jeff Amico, Director of a16z Crypto Startup School, said: "Crypto Startup School provides promising web3 startups with expert guidance and resources to overcome challenges and grow their business. Protocol Labs shares our commitment to helping web3 startups thrive, and we're grateful for their contributions to the founders in our CSS cohort."

Ruben Amenyogbo, of Protocol Labs, said: "We are excited to work with our close partners and friends at a16z and meaningfully contribute to Crypto Startup School. CSS is a strong forum for the best founders to create, collaborate, and get face time with the leading investors and builders in the space. In sharing our learnings of what it takes to launch and scale sector-leading companies, we empower builders looking to turn their vision of a resilient, open, and democratized web into reality and push humanity forward.

The 26 teams on the CSS program received access to:

• Privileged Engineering Support: Cohort teams are granted unrivaled access to engineering support across the Protocol Labs stack including the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), Filecoin Protocol, libp2p and the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) to take their builds to the next level
• Decentralized Storage Credits: teams will benefit from best-in-class Filecoin storage by Web3.storage/ NFT.storage Pro and also receive one-year free performant retrieval of data uploaded to Filecoin from Estuary
• Talent support:  CSS participants will receive support from the PL Talent team to recruit key roles from across the PL Network and beyond
• PL Founders Community: Selected teams will have access to the invite-only  FOUNDERS by Protocol Labs community which offers teams access to leading mentors, investors, hiring support, partnership opportunities, founder-focused events, and more.

Protocol Labs founded and funds the development of Filecoin, the world's largest decentralized storage network designed to store humanity's most important information, and the InterPlanetary File System, a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol designed to preserve and grow humanity's knowledge by making the web upgradeable, resilient, and more open - the web3 alternative to Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS).

About Protocol Labs

Protocol Labs is an open-source R&D lab that builds protocols, tools, and services to radically improve the internet. Protocol Labs' projects include IPFS, Filecoin, libp2p, and more — which serve thousands of organizations and millions of people. The Filecoin Project is a decentralized storage network with the mission of creating a decentralized, efficient, and robust foundation for humanity's information.

About a16z crypto

a16z crypto backs bold entrepreneurs building the next internet. With more than $7.6 billion raised across four funds, the a16z crypto fund invests in web3 companies and protocols from early seed-stage projects to fully-developed networks. Its crypto-native team supports founders and the growth of web3 through its research organization, engineering and security teams, legal and regulatory teams, go-to-market expertise, recruiting services, educational content, and more.

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