Cardano Partners: Tier-1 Enterprise Integrations

Overview

Cardano Partners: Tier-1 Enterprise Integrations is designed to forge strategic alliances between the Cardano ecosystem and the world's leading organizations. This specialized funding category will support ambitious proposals that implement and pilot Cardano-based solutions to solve real-world challenges for industry giants.

In this category, a “demonstrator pilot” means a time limited project testing the feasibility of an industrial use-case in close collaboration with a Tier 1 enterprise partner. 

Unlike other categories, this category is exclusively for established businesses and collaborations with large-scale organizations prepared to integrate Cardano's utility into their operations. The goal is to generate high-value, high-visibility use cases that demonstrate the power of Cardano at an enterprise level and accelerate mainstream adoption.

Budget & Constraints

• Total Budget:$ADA 10,000,000 
• Proposal Range: From $ADA 250,000 to $ADA 750,000

Areas of Interest

Proposals should focus on mature R&D for products with Tier-1 collaborations, such as:

• Enterprise integrations: Demonstrator pilots with Tier-1 industry leaders, e.g. embedding Cardano wallets in automotive systems.
• Stablecoin use-cases: Partner-led pilots that show Cardano stablecoins in action supporting real transactions, utility, or payments on Cardano.
• Scaling solutions: Maturing use cases using Cardano scaling solutions like Hydra, e.g. a high-throughput payment system for a household-name e-commerce marketplace.
• Exponential technologies: Applications leveraging technologies like AI, e.g. an AI-enhanced supply chain solution with a large manufacturer.
• Compliance solutions: Solutions to support ADA transactions that have regulatory implications.
• Growth programs: Programs that accelerate the investor readiness of founders leveraging Cardano technology.
• Tokenization platforms: Tokenized asset platforms with a clear path to validated transaction growth.

Core Eligibility: Who Can Apply?

This category is exclusively for established organizations ready to build on Cardano at scale. To be eligible, the lead applicant must meet all the following criteria. Proposals that do not meet these foundational requirements will not be considered.

• Be a Registered Business: You must be a registered legal business entity. Proposals from individuals or unregistered entities will not be accepted.
• Have a Proven Track Record: The lead applicant must be an established business with a minimum of a 2-year operational history. The applying consortium (i.e., the lead applicant and its named Tier-1/collaboration partners) must collectively demonstrate verifiable annual revenue of at least $5M USD in the last fiscal year.
• Have a Confirmed Tier-1 Partnership: The lead applicant must be either the Tier-1 enterprise itself (definition further below) or a consortium partner with a formal collaboration agreement (e.g., Letter of Intent, MOU) with a qualified Tier-1 enterprise. This category will not fund feature updates/upgrades to existing on chain products in isolation without a partnership.
• Maintain Good Standing with Catalyst: The lead proposer and all named team members must be in full compliance with commitments for any previously funded Catalyst projects. Proposers can verify their compliance status by reviewing their reporting dashboard on the Project Catalyst platform. All milestone reports for previously funded projects must be submitted and approved on time prior to this fund's submission. Learn more about it here.

Defining a "Tier-1 Enterprise"

An organization is considered "Tier-1" if it qualifies under one of the following pathways:

1. The partner must meet the following criteria:
• Verifiably generates $5M USD or more in annual revenue on their own or in aggregate as a consortium.
• Demonstrates significant market reach through a substantial national or international customer base, or a widely adopted digital product or service.
2. Or the partner must be:
• A national government body, a state/county-level agency, or an internationally operating NGO with significant public recognition (e.g. a national health service, a major university).
3. Or the partner must:
• Provide clear evidence of being a top-tier leader by market share within a significant national or international industry.

Proposal Requirements

All proposals submitted to this category must adhere to the following project and content standards. Moderation will be based on these criteria.

• Focus on integration and growth, not ideas: Proposals must be for mature R&D demonstrator pilots or direct integrations. Early-stage concepts, prototypes, core Cardano infrastructure, or developer tooling proposals are out of scope. 
• Demonstrate a mature product & integration path: Applicants must provide documentary evidence of a mature, deployed product according to one of the following two scenarios:
1. Cardano-native product: The product is already deployed and operational on the Cardano mainnet.
2. Cross-ecosystem product: The product is deployed and operational on another blockchain or ecosystem and is seeking integration with Cardano. The proposal must provide evidence of the existing product and a clear integration plan, including a confirmed integration partner or demonstrated in-house capability to execute it.
• Verify Partnership: Evidence of the Tier-1 collaboration (e.g. signed letter of intent) must be emailed to the Catalyst team no later than the start of the Community Review in Fund15. This partnership must be declared high level including its role in the public proposal as well. This category is not for product enhancements or feature improvements in isolation. For those - submit under “Cardano use Cases: Prototype And Launch” category instead.
• Justify On-Chain Transaction Impact: The proposal's core proposition must include a clear and compelling explanation of how the project will drive meaningful on-chain transaction volume for Cardano. Applicants must articulate why their solution requires a blockchain and how its implementation on Cardano will directly lead to a verifiable increase in network activity.
• Define measurable outcomes: The proposal must include clear, measurable adoption outcomes, with a mandatory forecast for projected on-chain transaction volume. Other KPIs (e.g. user growth, tokenized asset value) are also required.
• Set a clear timeline: The project delivery timeline must not exceed 12 months and must be broken down into clear milestones.
• Show partner commitment: The proposal must include a clear statement of the partner/enterprise's funding or in-kind contributions to the project.
• Amplify Cardano: A plan for co-marketing, public relations, or community engagement must be included to maximize Cardano's visibility.
• Detail verifiable team credentials: Simply listing names and roles is insufficient. The proposal must include verifiable references (e.g. comprehensive LinkedIn profiles, project portfolios, public repositories, corporate bios) that clearly demonstrate each key team member's specific experience, accomplishments, and suitability for their role in the project.
• Identify all partners: All collaborating entities, including the specific Tier-1 partner and any integration partners, must be clearly named within the proposal.
• Propose forward-looking work: Funds are exclusively for future development and project execution. Proposals seeking retroactive funding for work already completed will not be eligible.
• Detailed Use of Funds: Proposals must provide a clear budget. Your budget must be for future activities only and allocated exclusively to the project's execution. Proposals seeking retroactive funding are not eligible. Funds cannot be used for purchasing digital assets, providing liquidity, local treasuries, speculation, or simple branded merchandise. Proposals involving re-granting or incentives/giveaways are not eligible either. Please review Fund Rules for further details in addition to these.

Self-Assessment Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure your proposal meets all foundational and content requirements before submission.