Last updated 2 weeks ago
Cardano builders must innovate while proving compliance. STORM Partners scale legal support in Fund 15, ensuring projects meet regulations, attract investors, and grow sustainably.
Fund 15 Legal Support Program: compliance evidence system, 53 hrs consultation for ~35 projects, plus final report & video, building on Fund 12 with sustained per‑project value.
Please provide your proposal title
Legal Support 2.0 for Funded Projects - STORM Partners
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
59500
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
7
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Cardano builders must innovate while proving compliance. STORM Partners scale legal support in Fund 15, ensuring projects meet regulations, attract investors, and grow sustainably.
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
No
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
No external dependencies. The project is self‑contained, leveraging STORM Partners’ legal and compliance in-house expertise.
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
No
Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.
The engagements with the projects will be inherently confidential. If recurrent but simple problems are identified, however, we will open source our general recommendations to the community.
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
Business Services
Who you’re targeting, how you’ll reach them, and why this matters for Cardano?
We target Catalyst-funded teams from Fund 8 onward who want to operate with clarity and professional standards as they build and scale. Our Fund 12 Legal Support Program received strong participation and highly positive feedback, which is why we are bringing this service back in Fund 15 with a refined, more efficient structure.
We will reach projects through targeted outreach on Cardano community channels, direct invitations to funded teams, and continued visibility through STORM Partners’ advisory work across the ecosystem.
This matters for Cardano because offering founders standardized legal tools, onboarding documentation, and direct consultation with qualified legal specialists strengthens the overall quality and resilience of funded ventures. It ensures teams can progress with confidence, reduce uncertainty, and align more effectively with investor and regulatory expectations as the ecosystem grows.
Provide a list of key activities of your project:
What are your success metrics?
Quantitative:
Qualitative:
These metrics focus on whether founders are actually more prepared to build credible and compliant businesses on Cardano, which is the only outcome that matters for long term ecosystem health.
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
Our solution is to expand the Legal Support Program to provide Catalyst‑funded projects with structured compliance, governance, and documentation frameworks that help them thrive in a regulated Web3 environment. Building on the success of Fund 12, we will extend consultations to projects funded from Fund 8 onward, ensuring continuity and broader coverage across the ecosystem.
The program delivers value through two core components:
This solution directly addresses the problem by transforming regulatory uncertainty into clarity. Founders receive practical, actionable legal guidance that strengthens their credibility with investors and regulators, while the ecosystem gains standardized frameworks that can be reused across future funds. By consulting projects from Fund 8 upward, we ensure that past, present, and future Catalyst ventures benefit from institutional‑grade legal support — multiplying the resilience and adoption of Cardano.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
This project strengthens Cardano by equipping Catalyst‑funded founders with the legal, structural, and compliance support they need to operate credibly in a rapidly evolving Web3 landscape. As governments introduce frameworks like MiCA and global regulators increase scrutiny, projects that lack legal readiness risk stalling or failing to attract investment.
By providing Web3-specialized legal support and tailored consultations to projects from Fund 8 onward, we ensure that entrepreneurs can build resilient, compliant, and investor‑ready ventures. This not only protects individual projects but also enhances the reputation of Cardano as a blockchain ecosystem capable of producing sustainable, regulation‑aligned businesses.
The wider impact is threefold:
In short, this program transforms legal uncertainty into clarity, enabling Cardano to grow as a future‑ready ecosystem where innovation and compliance go hand in hand.
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?
STORM Partners has a proven track record in legal, compliance, and startup advisory. Our team includes directors of legal, senior specialists, and experienced project managers. We validate feasibility by:
Milestone Title
Documentation Refinement, Compliance Setup & Community Onboarding
Milestone Outputs
- Evidence system setup:
- Community marketing campaign:
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
1
Cost
15000
Progress
20 %
Milestone Title
Legal Consultations (First Cohort)
Milestone Outputs
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
3
Cost
13500
Progress
40 %
Milestone Title
Legal Consultations (Second Cohort)
Milestone Outputs
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
6
Cost
22500
Progress
80 %
Milestone Title
Project Close Out Report and Video
Milestone Outputs
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
7
Cost
8500
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
We’re planning to run this project tightly while maximizing value for Catalyst‑funded entrepreneurs who need practical legal support to make their ventures work. By refining documentation and using standardized methods, we aim to reduce overhead and redirect those efficiencies into deeper consultations and broader community engagement. This approach ensures that every ADA spent delivers measurable impact and increases the reach of the program.
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
As Cardano grows and Web3 gains mainstream acceptance, governments are rapidly regulating the space. Builders now face complex compliance challenges and need more support than ever to remain credible and fundable.
In Fund 12, STORM Partners delivered over 75 hours of tailored legal consultations, helping Catalyst‑funded projects navigate jurisdictional structuring, token classification, MiCA compliance, contract drafting, and whitepaper reviews. The guidance was practical, actionable, and directly improved project readiness.
By continuing this work in Fund 15, we provide true value: standardized legal frameworks, compliance systems, and expert consultations that strengthen the resilience of Cardano projects. This ensures founders can build sustainable ventures that withstand regulatory scrutiny and attract institutional investment — multiplying long‑term ecosystem credibility and adoption.
I confirm that the proposal is a non-technical initiative, with ≤20% of the budget for tech support.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal provides verifiable evidence (portfolio, links, reports) of the team's ability to deliver the project.
Yes
I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes clear objectives with both Output Metrics (what proposal did) and Adoption-Focused Metrics (what effect proposal had).
Yes
I confirm that the proposal clearly explains the user journey and provides a credible plan for how the project will equip and motivate users for future on-chain activity.
Yes
I confirm that the initiative clearly demonstrates how it will grow the Cardano ecosystem or onboard users.
Yes
I confirm that the project plan and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic and well-defined.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal commits to public outputs and justifies any exceptions.
Yes
I confirm that the budget adheres to all policies: it is for future work, follows the merchandise rule, and excludes establishing local treasuries, incentives/giveaways, re-grants.
Yes
I Agree
Yes
Axel Sabbag - Innovation Manager: Axel runs the corporate innovation program. He is responsible for BD and outreach to enterprises, producing reports on blockchain use cases in different industries, and bringing together the needs of our industry partners to be addressed by ecosystem product teams.
Natchanok Chaiprasit - Strategy & Research Specialist: Natcha is the project manager for the program and will ensure that the project stays on schedule, evidence is collected, and reports are submitted within the Milestone reporting tool.
Nicola Massella – Partner & Head of Legal: Nicola leads STORM Partners’ legal and compliance practice, specializing in financial law, contracts, and governance. He ensures Catalyst‑funded projects adopt standardized documentation and meet investor‑ready compliance standards.
Mariam Giorgadze – Senior Legal Specialist: Mariam led the Legal Support Program in Fund 12, providing direct legal consultations to Catalyst‑funded projects. She specializes in preparing MiCA compliance frameworks and drafting white papers, ensuring founders meet regulatory and investor standards.