Evoke Phygital Marketplace, where every physical item paired with NFT

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Craig Shah

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

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

140000

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

4

[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)

NFTs, paired with physical goods, add value, such as the ability to support product creators with auto royalties, proof of authenticity, traceability, unforgeable ownership and price history, and more

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

No

[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.”

No dependencies.

[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

Our smart contracts will be open source, as every contract should be, but the rest of the code base will be closed. We believe this model is required for the long-term financial success of the project and to maintain control over the intellectual property and quality of the final product. 

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Evoke Marketplace is a revolutionary phygital marketplace that aims to bridge the gap between the physical and digital shopping experiences. Our platform provides consumers with an immersive, seamless, and personalized journey, combining the exclusivity and opulence of luxury brick-and-mortar stores with the convenience and accessibility of online shopping. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, data analytics, and a curated selection of high-end products, Evoke will establish itself as the premier destination for phygital shopping enthusiasts globally.

Evoke Marketplace will operate as an online platform with an integrated mobile application, offering an extensive selection of luxury products from top-tier brands across various categories, including fashion, jewelry, watches, beauty, lifestyle, education, real state, gaming and more. Our phygital approach allows users to virtually explore luxury boutiques, engage in live interactions with expert consultants, and even experience augmented reality try-ons. Additionally, our platform will host exclusive events, pre-launch previews, educational courses, exclusive games and limited-edition releases to enhance customer engagement and loyalty.

We are planning to integrate multiple blockchains into our marketplace. The first release of the platform is planned for September and will include Web2-based features and payment. And Web3 Ethereum-based payments and NFTs. This proposal only includes the costs associated with the integration of Cardano-based NFTs into our platform.

The Phygital Market represents the integration of physical and digital elements in various industries, enhancing consumer experiences. Integrating NFTs with tangible assets can add value by increasing authenticity, enabling fractional ownership, and enhancing the trading and collectible aspects of physical items. This combination offers exciting opportunities for both creators and consumers in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

• Reward creators with royalties

NFTs are the easiest way (and probably the only reliable) to track royalties over time and automatically distribute payments to every creator of the product (not only to one main entity).

• Enhanced Value:

Combining NFTs with tangible assets, such as physical artwork, real estate, or luxury goods, can add intrinsic value. Buyers not only own the digital representation but also the physical item, making the NFT more appealing.

• Provenance and Authenticity

NFTs can serve as a certificate of authenticity for physical assets. By verifying ownership and transaction history on a blockchain, consumers can have more confidence in the legitimacy of the item they are purchasing.

• Fractional Ownership

NFTs can be divided into smaller fractions, enabling shared ownership of tangible assets. This opens up opportunities for investment and collective ownership of high-value items like art or real estate.

• Liquidity and Trading

NFTs tied to tangible assets can be traded more easily. Owners can sell their NFT representation of the asset on various online marketplaces, potentially attracting a larger pool of customers.

• Enhanced Collectibles

For collectors, NFTs can act as digital deeds or titles for their physical collectibles, offering a new level of prestige and digital memorabilia tied to their tangible assets.

You can find designs for the portal here: Figma link.

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

In what way will the success of our project bring value to the Cardano Community? 

The proposed solution is a marketplace that can attract thousands of active users to the ecosystem. The team behind the project has a wide network of connections in multiple industries and will attract hundreds of vendors during the launch of the platform in September. Originally, the platform will only have access to Ethereum based NFTs. Adding the possibility to interact with Cardano based NFTs can also attract new users to the platform and into Phygital space. 

Benefits for the Cardano platform:

• Exposure to a wider audience by providing access to Cardano-based NFTs 
• Ability to mint and buy/sell Cardano-based NFTs for hundreds of well-known brands on the platform 

[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?

There are two main factors for this project to succeed:

1. Capability to attract big brands to the platform when it is ready in September
2. Capability to deliver the tech side of the project (smart contracts and frontend / backend code to interact with Cardano blockchain)

The business team behind the project is well-funded team that develops all the Web2 features and Ethereum integration using non-Catalyst based resources. The tech team responsibility is only to integrate an option to interact with Cardano based NFTs on the same platform.

The business team includes the next people as investors and advisors (members of the Legion group):

https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-shah-65533549/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruceahoffman

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachin-maskey

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinney-smile-chopra

https://www.linkedin.com/in/srinagesh-vitthanala-1348a8

https://www.linkedin.com/in/binod-dhakal-3038471b9

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-gonzalez-ba80112a

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hoa-nguyen23

https://www.linkedin.com/in/crypto101aaron

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivarorapmp

https://www.linkedin.com/in/makjawadekar

https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankfrausto

https://www.linkedin.com/in/howcreative

The tech team is represented by Dev Team Inc, the company with 8+ years of experience in software development, and with multiple projects delivered for Cardano community:

1. We are a team of 25 specialists with expertise in web and mobile app development

You can learn more about our team here: https://www.devteam.inc. We have backend and frontend engineers, DevOps and SecOps specialists, project managers, and professional UI/UX designers in-house. Please check the video of some team members saying "Hi!" in the "Team" section below!!! We can start immediately. We already have all the team members we need, including Plutus developers (who are learning Aiken now and we will probably use Aiken in production instead) and even the UX designer who will help us build an easy-to-use web3-based system.   

2. We have Haskell and even Plutus school in-house. 

As a software development agency, we also offer Web3 software development services. And we have our own internal Plutus school (based on the amazing Plutus pioneer program by Lars Brünjes). We already have engineers who we need to deliver the smart contracts. And we are working on adding Aiken to the program now. 

3. We are a software development agency with 8+ years of experience

We have extensive experience in web and mobile app building and budget management. We don't have external funding, so we have to rely on constant cash flow and be aware that clients come and go, but we don't let our people go even in the most challenging situations. 

4. We are totally fine with being paid upon delivery of every milestone instead of being paid upfront.

We work like that for 8+ years. One of the main features that you can find on our website is that we provide a one-month trial period. We are confident that we can deliver on what we promise. 

5. Our location is perfect for the project

Some of our engineers and our headquarters are located in California (Los Angeles), where most of vendors being onboarded into the platform are located. 

6. Many of our engineers are also located worldwide

We have a small team in the US, Los Angeles. But most of our members are in Eastern Europe, Poland. This combination of engineers across different time zones helps to keep costs reasonable and makes it possible to deliver projects much cheaper than many other companies. 

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

Milestone 1: Vendor Portal - Transactions and Collections

Duration: 4 weeks (1 month)

Tasks: 

• Vendor Dashboard:
• Connect ADA wallets functionality
• Collections lookup page
• Mint new NFT when adding product
• Transactions history page
• Project Management:
• Tasks management
• Feedback gathering
• Reporting to the community
• Community engagement and publicity

Acceptance Criteria:

• Vendors should be able to connect their Cardano-based wallets
• Vendors should be able to see ADA based transactions in their transaction history
• Vendors should be able to see their Cardano based collections and add new collections
• Vendors should be able to mint new Cardano based NFTs for products

Outputs and Evidence to validate the acceptance criteria:

• Users who are registered in the system as vendors should be able to connect their Cardano wallets and see all the collections of NFTs and NFTs that are in this wallet.
• They also should be able to mint Cardano-based NFTs for any product in the system that doesn't have any other NFTs associated with it yet
• Demo video with the presentation of minting new NFTs and searching through them in the connected wallet. 
• Demo video showing auto-generated Stripe accounts and Crypto wallets for the added restaurants. 
• Daily updates and community engagement on Twitter and in online channels. 

Costs: 31,500 ADA or 22.5% of the Grant Amount

Milestone 2: User Dashboard - Transactions and Collections

Duration: 4 weeks (1 month)

Tasks: 

• User Dashboard:
• Connect ADA wallets functionality
• Collections lookup page
• Transactions history page
• Buy products with NFTs functionality
• Sell existing products with NFTs
• Project Management:
• Tasks management
• Feedback gathering
• Reporting to the community
• Community engagement and publicity

Acceptance Criteria:

• Users should be able to connect their Cardano-based wallets
• Users should be able to see ADA based transactions in their transaction history
• Users should be able to see their Cardano based collections and add new collections
• Users should be able to buy products based on Cardano NFTs - includes smart contract for physical product delivery
• Users should be able to sell products based on Cardano NFTs - includes smart contract for physical product delivery

Outputs and Evidence to validate the acceptance criteria:

• Users who are registered in the system as users should be able to connect their Cardano wallets and see all the collections of NFTs and NFTs that are in this wallet.
• Demo video with the presentation of user Dashboard and entire buy/sell process based on Cardano smart contracts. The smart contract should lock the NFT and the necessary amount for the purchase. When the buyers receive the physical product via Fedex, they approve receival. The NFT goes to buyer and the price for the goods goes to seller's wallet.  
• Daily updates and community engagement on Twitter and in online channels. 

Costs: 34,150 ADA or 24.4% of the Grant Amount

Milestone 3: Auction process

Duration: 4 weeks (1 month)

Tasks: 

• Vendor Dashboard:
• List NFTs for auction
• Auction settings
• Monitor the bids and auction status
• Finish the auction
• History page
• User Dashboard
• See all active auctions
• Notifications system for new bids and new auctions
• Current state of the auction and the highest bid
• Ability to bid for an item
• History page
• Project Management:
• Tasks management
• Feedback gathering
• Reporting to the community
• Community engagement and publicity

Acceptance Criteria:

• Vendors should be able to start the auction and monitor it's status.
• There should be multiple settings that will define how the auction goes
• Vendors should be able to see all previous auctions and detailed statistics
• The auction should be governed by smart contract on Cardano blockchain
• Users should receive notifications for new auctions in the system and be able to place new bids
• Users should be able to see history of all previous auctions they participated in or history of auctions for other products in the system

Outputs and Evidence to validate the acceptance criteria:

• Demo video with the presentation of user entire Auction process. Vendor start the auction. Multiple users place different bids until the time is up or until the Vendor stops the auction. During the auction process, the NFT and the bids should be locked in the smart contract created specifically for this auction.  
• Daily updates and community engagement on Twitter and in online channels. 

Costs: 40,200 ADA or 28.7% of the Grant Amount

Milestone 4: Admin Panel

Duration: 4 weeks (1 month)

Tasks: 

• Admin Dashboard:
• Moderation of listings based on Cardano and approve/deny functionality
• History of all added NFTs. Possibility to filter by Cardano-based NFTs
• User Engagement Metrics: Track user registration, activity, and retention rates
• NFT Analytics: Access comprehensive data on NFT performance, including highest bid, lowest bid, and trading volume
• Platform Settings: Adjust platform settings, including transaction fees, listing fees, and user registration options.
• Project Management:
• Tasks management
• Feedback gathering
• Reporting to the community
• Community engagement and publicity

Acceptance Criteria:

• Admins should be able to see newly added Cardano-based listings and approve or deny the listing based on metadata of the NFT
• Dashboard should include all possible metrics and statistics of engagement with Cardano-based NFTs on the platform
• Platform settings for fees should apply to Cardano-based NFTs
• NFT analytics should be available on interactive dashboards in the Admin panel

Outputs and Evidence to validate the acceptance criteria:

• Demo video with the presentation of all of the Cardano-based metrics that Admins of the system can access through the Admin Dashboard. Also presentations of the possibility to influence settings inside of the Cardano Auction smart contract  
• Daily updates and community engagement on Twitter and in online channels. 

Costs: 34,150 ADA or 24.4% of the Grant Amount

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

Please meet our team! 

1. Craig Shah

Role: CEO and Product Owner

Craig Shah is a renowned celebrity designer of fine Jewelry and Swiss watches. Sought out for unique fashionable and creative concepts. Craig Shelly designs are highly crafted and bespoke in Switzerland. Jewelry designed and manufactured in California. Clients are those who have an eye for luxury, style and a compassionate heart. 

Craig’s greatest passion is to use his creative talent and give back. He dedicates a great portion of his success for the benefit of children and soldiers.

Craig Shelly partners up with many prestigious organizations around the world. Some of his official time partners are Harvard and Yale for Rivalry on Ice, Cricket All Stars, Beverly Hills Police, IIFA, and PGA tournament amongst many other organizations. Craig is also an active investor and board member of many companies on road to successful exits. 

The relevant links:

https://evokemedia.io/

https://www.craigshelly.com/

https://www.elevate-summit.org/

Responsibilities: 

• Requirements gathering and features prioritization
• Vendors onboarding
• Customer feedback and research
• Budget management
• Marketing and publicity
• Community reporting
• Teams interaction (development and marketing)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-shah-65533549/

2. Dima Bezzubenkov

Role: Tech Lead and Product Manager

Responsibilities: 

• Core tech decisions
• Tech team management
• Features delivery
• Collaboration between business, design, and dev teams
• Code review and security analysis
• Software development when required
• Restaurants and drivers onboarding
• Customer feedback and research
• Community reporting

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimabezzubenkov

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dimabezzubenkov

3. Egor Garkavy

Role: Team Lead and Senior Full Stack Engineer 

Responsibilities: 

• Core architecture decisions
• API and backend development
• Authentication process development
• Angular-based web app development
• Plutus smart contracts development and deployment
• DevOps, SecOps, CI and CD processes
• Monitoring, Logging, Scalability
• Code review and analysis
• Bugfixing, performance, and scalability tunings
• Helping the rest of the team when needed

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/egor-garkavy-1baa66125/

4. Nikita Hripach

Role: Mid Full Stack Engineer

Responsibilities: 

• API and backend development
• Angular-based web app development
• Plutus smart contracts development and deployment
• Pull requests review
• Bugfixing, performance, and scalability tunings

LinkedIn: 

Nikita: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikita-hripach/

5. Andrei Mikhailovski 

Role: Mid React Native Engineer 

Responsibilities: 

• Mobile apps development using React Native
• Wallets integration with mobile devices
• Pull requests review
• Bugfixing, performance, and scalability tunings
• Helping the rest of the team when needed

LinkedIn: 

Andrei: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-m-76986820a/

6. Andrei Astapenka

Role: Manual and Automation QA Person

Responsibilities: 

• Manual testing of the web app and mobile apps
• Creating test cases and test plans 
• Bug reporting
• API autotests with PostMan
• UI autotests with Selenium

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrei-astapenka-25607224b/

7. Suhrob Abdurakhmanov

Role: Senior UI / UX Designer 

Responsibilities: 

• UX Research and competitive analysis
• User personas and user flows identification.
• Low-level and high-level wireframing
• Prototype creation
• UI design based on the prototype

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suhrob-abdurahmanov/

8. Charles Slamowitz

Role: Legal Advisor

Responsibilities: 

• Set up a legal entity
• Bookkeeping
• Yearly and quarterly filings 
• Crypto accounting and bookkeeping advisory

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cslamowitz/

The advisors:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruceahoffman

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachin-maskey

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinney-smile-chopra

https://www.linkedin.com/in/srinagesh-vitthanala-1348a8

https://www.linkedin.com/in/binod-dhakal-3038471b9

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-gonzalez-ba80112a

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hoa-nguyen23

https://www.linkedin.com/in/crypto101aaron

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivarorapmp

https://www.linkedin.com/in/makjawadekar

https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankfrausto

https://www.linkedin.com/in/howcreative

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

Please look at the spreadsheet file here. And you can find a detailed breakdown for every milestone below:

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

The proposal cost is 140,000 ADA. The development time that we anticipate is 4 months. By the time of the Fund12 development start, we will already have hundreds of vendors onboarded into the platform and will be validating the idea on Ethereum. Adding Cardano will expose our users to more options and the brands will have an option to mint their NFTs on Cardano.

A detailed breakdown of the costs for every milestone can be found in the Budget Breakdown document in the section above. It is based on the average salaries of software engineers in Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland:

• $4,000 a month for a Senior Engineer 
• $2,500 a month for a Mid Engineer 
• $1,700 a month for a Manual + Automation QA Person (we need only 20 hours a week of QA for this project)