Token Allies the First Decentralized VC in Cardano - 2nd phase

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Alex Pestchanker

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Co proposers and Additional applicants

Facundo Lopez

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

Token Allies, the first Decentralized VC in Cardano, revolutionizes investing. Democratizing access, dismantling barriers, redefining VC through inclusivity, transparency, and mutual benefits.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

Yes

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

We are integrating different platforms to make our processes work, these are the ones that are relevant in terms of dependencies:

Demeter.run - We are running our Marlowe's Smartcontract, Cardano Node and Marlowe backend in this platform offered by TXPipe. The platform itself runs smooth and it is widely used, even though our first Funds could potentially stress their operating limits. We have also secured a grant by IOG given to us as a number of free DCUs to use in the platform. As our core platform pursue further integration with it, is a key dependency nevertheless.

Clarity platform - We have an agreement with them, to use their platform for our DAO governance, they will provide us with their voting platforms, related to our governance tokens, for both the DAO and the the Funds management, also the Treasury and the Transparency we are seeking to integrate with it. So we will need that it runs smooth and facilitate all the voting and operations.

Marlowe - We depend on the Marlowe's backend and the Marlowe's code evolution by IOG, on our Smartcontracts for the Investment Funds management, specially considering the Crowdfunding type of them, which stress Marlowe to its limits, so the evolution of the language will enable to reach new possibilities on our Funds management. The basic Investment Fund smartcontract though, it is solved and tested that works with the current Marlowe's version.

The approach we manage these dependencies is working very closely with the teams behinds each of them, so we can anticipate any potential disruptions, but also any potential benefit and opportunity. We also help them to tests their ideas, products and services.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

No

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

We are planning to become open source in the future, but now we are focusing in building the core investment platform, expand our insights based on user's experience and feedback and validate our model and hypothesis with the first Funds. Specially our smartcontracts approach with Marlowe. So we are having our hands and minds full at the moment, to consider an extra load by open source everything, though we believe is a cornerstone of the decentralization we aim to reach, so we will get there.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Token Allies, the first Decentralized VC on Cardano, is poised to redefine venture capital. The VC will be managed by the Token Allies DAO, this DAO aims to ease capital flow and broaden opportunities by disrupting the traditional VC model and engaging many ecosystem participants. It is especially tailored to fuel the expansion of existing Cardano projects and provide those needed resources for those who have traction and proven business models.

There is nothing wrong with the purpose of the VCs, and it is clear that they have fueled innovation and growth in many areas. Though the centralized way of managing them, is what usually brings all sort of problems and disappointments. Private managed (centralized) VCs work with few "experts"(General Partners) that get to decide what, how and what to do with the Capital raised, leaving the investors (Limited Partners) to sit and wait in hope their funds will be wisely and carefully managed. That old model, produces also a misalignment of interests between these two parties, resulting in loosing impact and opportunities. Our purpose at Token Allies is to solve the bad part of the current VC model, while taking the good ones at higher levels, optimizing the inflows of serious money to impact driven and high growth projects, in a decentralized way, that can give all participants the level of trust, transparency, participation and results they are looking for.

Today, investment in Cardano is limited to starting level investments by Catalyst and some scarce more serious capital from a few investors (mostly coming within the ecosystem itself). Token Allies addresses this imbalance, extending the reach of Cardano's growth and development beyond this limitation, that is hindering great projects with good potential, to be able to reach escape velocity.

Acting as a Catalyst natural continuation in the Cardano ecosystem, Token Allies DAO is a community-driven platform that invites a wide range of investors from the Crypto space, to benefit from higher returns with less risk, without leaving the Crypto space, by investing in startups and companies the proper capital they need to reach sustainable businesses. It adds a unique twist to the investment landscape, pairing a unique decentralized funding model based in Cardano's blockchain technology with investors from all over the world. This fusion empowers high potential, high growth, high impact projects to reach their goals, while providing investors an avenue to optimize their capital while actively engaging in the process, without leaving the crypto space.

HOW DOES IT WORKS

Token Allies is a DAO that allow its members to become investors in FUNDs that are proposed, reviewed and approved by them. Participation on the FUNDS is optional, but to participate in them, the DAO membership is required.

All the DAO governance are proposed and debated thru our discord channels, while the voting itself will be performed at a DAO platform (1st option is Clarity platform).

The FUNDS once approved by the DAO, are coded via our own template Marlowe Smartcontract that has parameters that are set based on the DAO's decision for the fund (Amount to be raised, type of investment, minimum threshold to collect, timeframes, expected returns, expected duration of investments, requirements for companies applying, etc.) These Smartcontracts will be uploaded, run and instantiated on chain via Demeter.Run platform, which then be integrated to our own Investment Platform via its Marlowe API. Only the platform administrators will have access to this backend. The Smartcontract will be totally autonomous once instantiated in the blockchain and will either be closed once deadline is reached or the amount to be raised, securing investors and DAO valuables.

Our current State

The investment platform exists today as a fully functional MVP with the capabilities to register, assign roles, manage preferences, create Funds entities (by Administrators) and allow users with Investor role to interact with those Fund entities. The platform integrates CIP30 wallets, so users can connect them to the platform, to create investment transactions and receive Tokens and returns. But that MVP is not open to external users.

We have everything ready to launch our MVP in PREPROD Network to test all the functionalities

Here are some screenshots of the actual platform that is currently developed in preprod:

We like to further continue testing our MVP now with all our DAO members, so we can aim to launch our platform in Mainnet for our FUND1

Our MVP can be found here: https://dev--steady-speculoos-ddcf71.netlify.app/

OUR TOKENOMICS

The Token Allies DAO has a three token business model, the DVC, the ALLI and the Investor ID NFT. They work in conjunction, the DVC being the governance utility token to participate in the DAO decision making process (Treasury management, Approval of Fund creation, Oversight of the DAO budget, etc), the ALLI token that works as a dual purpose utility token, first to give investors access to participate in the FUND their invested in decision making (voting which companies receive investment, approval the vesting of funds, approval progress reports from invested companies, etc) and also as a liquidity mechanism if they decide not to participate in the Fund governance, allowing them to sell the token in a secondary market. Finally the Investor ID NFT is the token that gives the investors rights to claim the returns generated by the FUND investments.

The complete details of how this model works can be found in our detailed WhitePaper in https://www.tokenallies.com and some clarifications in our FAQ channel at our Discord: https://discord.gg/RREfkCdT65

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

We are building a Business Solution in the Defi space, that could fill a so much needed GAP many projects in Cardano are facing, with lack of serious money to reach their potential, specially with no outside VCs interest in our ecosystem. The impact could be huge, aiming directly to the Challenge Why statement: "Cardano needs innovations and solutions that help the ecosystem reach its potential and help improve the systems we use across the world."

Our DAO decentralizes decision-making, ensures expert due diligence, and promotes informed choices, fostering a vibrant, inclusive and transparent ecosystem. ALLI Token, minted as a utility token for investors' trust, offers voting rights in the Token Allies' fund they choose to invest in, thus reinforcing participatory decision-making, adding transparency and lowering the barriers for investment and deal flow.

Taking advantage of Cardano's ecosystem cutting edge technologies, such as the Cardano Blockchain, the Marlowe's financial Domain Specific language and infrastructure; Scaling and efficient solutions such as Demeter.run and DAO processes proven platforms such as Clarity we aim to create a unique set of trusted processes, governance rules and Smartcontracts that facilitate and secures the Funding processes needed for our model to work.

Our journey towards this innovative approach has seen countless hours, extensive expertise and immense passion. Our first platform MVP, testifies our commitment to transform investment via blockchain's potential. With Token Allies, investors and companies will have an empowering platform to drive mutual value creation.

During that journey, we have faced hard pivots to found a unique model that can really produce the world-wide impact we set to achieve, that were not easy to do, but the experiences and learnings we have collected allowed us to reach our current state that after almost two years have resulted in this unique model to approach the issues we want o solve by creating this Decentralized VC.

In essence, Token Allies is not just another VC player, but a game-changer aiming to democratize investing, making it more accessible, transparent, and beneficial for the Cardano community.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Both Alex and Lucas are known active members of the Cardano ecosystem with a proven track record generating value and delivering projects, as cofounders of the LATAM Cardano Community helping to building impact in and out of the Latin America region and hosts of the LATAM Townhall and Spaces weekly meetings that aim to lower the barriers for adoption of Cardano in Latin America and organizers of the 13 CIP 1694 Cardano Decentralized Workshops held in LATAM and attendees of the Global CIP 1694 workshop in Edinburgh. 

This will be the second part of our Fund 8 funded project, so all the developed functionality can be seen in the current MVP, demonstrating our capabilities to both develop great technology, understand our users needs and integrate with the Cardano ecosystem.

As this is a development project, success will be easily measured by the delivery of its proposed Milestones, with clear and tangible verifiable outputs and evidence.

Our proposed KPIs are divided in two, the first set are there to demonstrate and allow the audit of project deliverables and progress, the second set are there to report and track on Outcomes of the project, once it start to operate with external users, they are:

Validation:

• We will validate our MVP by real DAO Member users, using the platform, providing feedback and confirming they will use it in production to invest in our Funds.
• Project delivery Milestones agreed and documented as our project goals and roadmap, to report on the project progress and delivery on our commitments. (Detailed description in the Roadmap section)

Outcome KPIs - Our Impact:

Short-Medium term

• Number of DAO members: Reaching 250 wallets holding an average of 3 DVC tokens each within the first two months of operation.
• A FUND1 with a minimum of 1 M USD equivalent target, proposed, voted and created within the first semester of operation (that means the Fund's smartcontract is enacted on the Blockchain, and open to receive investors money).
• Depending on the KPI above, start of the FUND1 Campaign to attract companies willing to apply to funds, based on the FUND1's approved terms voted by the DAO.
• Number and value of the Tokens minted (DVC and ALLI) thru time.

Medium-Long term

• Number of companies invested by the Token Allies Funds, by type series (series A, series B, etc).
• Number of companies invested, per Fund, that generated a successful Exit (reached the growth and scale purpose).
• Number of companies invested, that are using the Cardano Blockchain.
• Average return ratio to investors per Fund (in X amounts from the invested amount).
• Average holding amount of ALLIs on Fund investors' wallets.
• Average voting power of DVCs on DAO members' wallets.

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

By the end of first month, since project start.

INVESTMENT PLATFORM: users can register on our platform and select their role as Investors or DAO members using the TestDVC tokens in their connected CIP30 wallets.

GOVERNANCE PLATFORM: Clarity (or equivalent) platform managing the DAO governance is published and accessible, DAO members can register and are recognized by their DVC token. A Vote is created in the platform for FUND1 investment thesis. FUND1 is explained to the DAO-Members

Acceptance criteria - Milestone 1:

a) INVESTMENT PLATFORM: Platform recognizes the TestDVC token in the connected wallet, searching for it when a user wants to gets the Investor role. Once the investor role is granted, user can seen FUNDs to invest in, and invest their FakeUSD in Preprod FUND1.

b) GOVERNANCE PLATFORM: DAO's Governance platform working, enabling members to register using their DVC token as proof of membership. FUND1 thesis presented to DAO members in our Discord channel and explained to the DAO, to receive feedback. And feedback is documented.

By the end of second month, since project start.

DEMETER PLATFORM: Marlowe Smartcontract for FUND1 can be instantiated for each investor from a Demeter.run node in the Cardano's Preprod net. Marlowe runtime REST API published, and accessible from the platform.

INVESTMENT PLATFORM: Token Allies investment platform connected to the Demeter.run backend allowing to register and connect the Funds entity to the Smartcontract in Preprod. Test stable coins (FakeUSD) can be sent from the platform to the Smartcontract as investment and role tokens are received on the test wallets.

GOVERNANCE PLATFORM: FUND1 fund is registered, reviewed and proposed in the Governance platform and voted by the DAO members.

Acceptance criteria - Milestone 2:

a) DEMETER PLATFORM: Fund Smartcontracts for each investor can be created in Preprod, with the predefined Fund parameters, ALLIs token can be sent to the contract to instantiate it. Smartcontracts running with proper parameters can be verified on chain in Preprod via our platform and via a scan on the blockchain.

b) INVESTMENT PLATFORM: Token Allies Platform can interact with the Smartcontract via Marlowe runtime REST API running at the Demeter.run node. Information can be seen on the platform, retrieving number of investors, amount invested, % of threshold reached, etc.

c) GOVERNANCE PLATFORM: Proposal and voting of the FUND1 successfully performed and results published.

By the end of the 3rd month, since project starts.

DEMETER PLATFORM: The Smartcontracts running in the Demeter Marlowe Runtime node, are closed gracefully with two potential outcomes. If the FUND1 reached its target, the fund shall swap the test stable coins (FakeUSD) for the existing ALLIS in the contract and send the ALLIs to the investor wallet and the FakeUSD to the Token Allies FUND1 wallet. If not fully funded, then test stable coins shall be returned to investor and ALLIs to the Token Allies treasury wallet.

INVESTMENT PLATFORM: The FUND at the investment platform reflects properly the amount raised and allows for investors to claim their corresponding tokens.

Acceptance Criteria - Milestone 3:

DEMETER PLATFORM: After collection test date or Fully funded contract is closed properly, tests are successful: If threshold has not been reached funds are returned to investors and ALLIs returned to Token Allies Wallet, without any token left in the contract if it does, test ALLIs are sent to Investors Wallets and Test stable tokens (FakeUSD) Collected Funds to the Token Allies Wallet without any token left in the contract.

INVESTMENT PLATFORM: The Fund1 a the platform change its state to Fully funded (Open) or Closed and reflects which tokens were sent to which wallet, producing all the proper calculations and reports being seen in the platform.

Milestone 4A: By the end of the fourth month, since project starts.

Fixes and corrections: All the feedback obtained from Prepod shall be documented and factored into the code and configuration of both the Demeter Platform and the Investment one.

DEMETER PLATFORM: Production Mainnet Marlowe's runtime is created into Demter.run

INVESTMENT PLATFORM: The platform is migrated to Production and FUND1 entity is created in the platform and connected to the Marlowe backend in Mainnet. Investors can see FUND1 available and running on chain, Mainnet.

Milestone 4B:

By the end of the fifth month, since the project starts.

DEMETER PLATFORM: the Smartcontract is working as expected with ALLI tokens sent to the contract, verification of Smartcontract running on the Cardano mainnet passes all test. API is available and accessible.

INVESTMENT PLATFORM: Investors can send required investment amount to the FUND1, via their connected CIP30 wallet. All FUND indicators are properly updated on the platform.

New investors are still able to send funds to the SmartContract and verify the contract status via the Investment Platform.

Fund ID NFT is designed and registered in NMKR platform, ready to be minted when fund is Fully funded.

Acceptance Criteria - Milestone 4:

a) DEMETER PLATFORM: Marlowe Runtime node running and API REST accessible from the investment platform. FUND1 production Smartcontract ready, with the predefined Fund parameters, to receive investments.

b) INVESTMENT PLATFORM: Token Allies production Platform can interact with the Smartcontract via Marlowe Runtime API running at the Demeter.run production node. Fund information can be properly seen on the platform target amount, dates, number of investors, amount invested, % of threshold reached, etc. Investors can invest in FUND1 by sending their desired amount of tokens to the FUND1 Contract and verify its status via de Investment Platform.

Fund ID NFT uploaded to the NMKR platform ready with all its proper metadata to be sent to investors when Fund is Fully Funded.

Milestone 5: By the end of the sixth month, the Smartcontract is Closed either Fully funded (by reaching the threshold) or not funded. If Fully Funded, investors will receive in their wallets the equivalent in ALLI to their invested funds, and the Fund ID NFT with the proper metadata customized for each investor. Collected funds are sent to the Funds Multisig Wallet, 9% of them are sent to the DAO Operating Wallet, Core team ALLIs are sent to core teams Wallet. Any remaining ALLIs are sent to the burn wallet.

Acceptance Criteria - Milestone 5: Contract is closed, proper behavior is validated either contract closed not funded and all Stable coins are returned to the investors in the proper amount, ALLIs are burned. Or Fully funded, ALLIs are sent to the investors wallets, together with the Fund ID NFT tailored for each investor, Core team ALLIs are sent to Core team wallet and Collected funds are sent 91% to the Funds multisig wallet and 9% are sent to the DAO operations wallet. Verification that the contract is properly closed are performed and the Investment platform shows the FUND in its next stage, with all the information updated.

After Milestone 5, in a predefined date, if FUND was Fully Funded, the DAO core team will appoint the DUE DILIGENCE team to be ready to work on applications, and FUND will be opened to receive applications by Companies.

Outputs

This Development phase seeks to elevate our first MVP to a full working platform, that can successfully host our first Fund's Smartcontracts and investment/operating platform.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Functionality added to the platform, to CIP30 wallet integration, so DAO members can select appropriate roles by holding their DVC tokens in the connected wallet.
• DAO members can vote on governance proposals on the voting platform (Clarity as the first candidate) Operating Budget, Funds, etc.
• The Token Allies investment platform is available and ready in production to register the first FUND (FUND1), so DAO members can be able to review all the details of the FUND and required investment.
• The Demeter.Run backend is properly configured, so it can successfuly register and run the FUND1 Smartcontract. This will be enacted by sending to the Smartcontract the initial transaction with the corresponding ALLI tokens to the FUND target raising amount. Smartcontract script can be verified to be running on chain and corresponding status waiting to receive investments.
• The wallet integration (CIP30) and the investment process that is triggered from our investment platform works as intended so investors can send money to the Smartcontract, and the corresponding role token is received in the investor's wallet.
• After the collecting period (to be defined by the Fund's parameters), the fund can be declared Fully Funded (raising amount above predefined threshold) and ALLIs are sent from the SmartContract to each investors wallet, or if the FUND does not reach the threshold it is declared closed not funded and all the investments are returned to the respective investors wallets.
• If FUND is Fully Funded, and investors had received their corresponding ALLIs, then the collected funds are sent to the FUND Multisig wallet so the VC can start the companies application phase.
• Reports can be generated from the Blockchain and the Marlowe Smartcontract so investors can understand the status of the FUND.
• After a fully funded FUND, the investment platform, shall move the process to the next stage, publishing the FUND, so companies can start applying to it.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Our core team, is comprised of 4 partners from Argentina, who are active members in Catalyst and the Cardano ecosystem, looking to leave a footprint in the world. We are passionate about the potential that Cardano can provide to people all over the world. 

  

Lucas Macchiavelli 

Lucas started his journey in the traditional stock markets, and quickly made his road into a passion at 19 years old. After advising several clients to traditional investments he turned his sight into Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology, where he recognized it's life changing potential. Thanks to blockchain technology many doors that were previously closed opened, crowdfunding was one of them. After seeing the difficulties with traditional funding methods, he came up with Token Allies. F8 Proposal Assessor & Cardano Ambassador. 

F7 Funded Proposer (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/382611) 

F8 Funded Proposer (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/400427) 

F9 Funded Proposer (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/64666)

 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucasmacchiavelli/ 

  

Alex Pestchanker 

Alex has 24+ years of experience building Digital Products and Companies. He has a dual background, on one side a Solutions Architect and Developer (Cloud, Blockchain, C#, .NET, Java, Angular, DevOps) and on the other side a Company Builder and Advisor, building high-performance teams to deliver products that customers love (Customer Development, Agile, Lean, Design Thinking). Alex is also a professor at ITBA (one of the most prestigious engineering universities in LATAM) and a public speaker, helping to build common knowledge around Digital Transformation, Exponential Organizations, and Abundance. 

Within Cardano, Alex is an active community member, performed as Proposal Assessor in F6, F7, F8 and F9 with high ratings on his assessments, and Veteran PA in F7, F8 and F9. He has also been awarded several times for his proposals and successfully completed most of them such as: F6: Proposals Mentors Marketplace ( https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/369749-48088 ), F7: Proposals Mentors Marketplace -cont (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/382926), F8: DCorps - Digital company registry (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/400064), F8:Funding real world Businesses (https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/422489-48088), F9:Bringing Business to Cardano (https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/422416-48088), among others. 

Alex is also a 1st cohort ATALA-Prism Pioneer a 3rd cohort Plutus pioneer and 1st cohort Marlowe's pioneer. 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apestchanker/ 

Facundo Lopez

His entrepreneurial mindset has led him to develop skills and live experiences throughout his company path that were essential when it came to create, design and execute Token Allies. His ambition, passion, perseverance and abilities, combined with all the knowledge acquired during his academic training, are crucial when carrying out and managing the project, especially when taking care of administrative issues. 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/facundo-l%C3%B3pez-franceschi-b13814184/ 

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

The project main costs are developing costs, which are comprised of the following:

1 PM - ADA 10,345 x month = ADA 62,070

1 UX - ADA 6,897 x month = ADA 41,382

2 DEV - ADA 8,621 x month each (ADA 17,242 per month ) = ADA 103,452

Platform and infrastructure needed:

Demeter.run = ADA 136.21 x 6 months = 817.26

Governance Platform = ADA 25 x 2 voting actions = ADA 50

Investment Platform (Netlify+Neo4J DB) = ADA 862.1 x 6 months = ADA 5,172.6

DNS + Hosting for website = ADA 51.28 x 6 months = ADA 307.68

The total of the project is ADA 213,251.54

We have rounded it up to ADA 230.000 to have a minimum margin for ADA price variation

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

With the Token Allies model we will be able to close the GAP that projects face after initial funding, when they have proven the business model and are getting traction, but they lack the proper funding to escale and growth (also known as the Death Valley).

This DAO, will prove a very innovative model, that will reshape the concept of a VC, from the standpoint of the investor, providing the investors with the ways, tools and rules to be able to participate on the decision making process of the Funds where they invest. The Cardano community will have the unique opportunity to participate into this process and multiply their assets value without leaving the Cardano blockchain.

We will be minting 3 different tokens, natively in Cardano, so we will be collaborating with increased transaction and fess numbers. Provide the ecosystem with a very innovative way to solve the funding problem and create great value on the ecosystem, that will be probably get noticed by other investors so they can come to the Cardano blockchain.

Our FUND1 will be aimed to fund Cardano projects with a proven business model that can demonstrate 1 year of paying customers and are ready to scale. This FUND1 fund will be of 1,000,000 USD equiv so it will be serious money invested in the Cardano most needed projects that are the ones that can scale and deliver real value.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept