The Algorand Foundation has invested in Valar, a decentralized peer-to-peer staking platform on Algorand, marking a significant milestone in the project's journey from hackathon winner to successful ecosystem player.

Valar's founders, Alex Marinšek and Uroš Hudomalj, initially presented their concept (formerly iGoProtect) at the 2024 Algorand Global Hackathon, where they claimed the Grandmaster prize at Decipher, Algorand's flagship conference. Their platform stood out for its innovative approach to enhancing staking rewards and strong technical foundation.

Following their hackathon success, Valar was selected as one of 14 startups from over 100 applicants for the inaugural Algorand Incubator program. During the eight-week intensive program, the team participated in expert-led workshops focusing on community growth, Web3 revenue models, funding strategies, and partnership development.

The platform's mainnet launch on January 23 proved highly successful, with 18M ALGO staked across 120 accounts within two weeks of the Algorand 4.0 release. This represents 6% of all accounts participating in Algorand consensus, demonstrating strong early adoption.

Valar's success exemplifies the Algorand Foundation's commitment to supporting innovative Web3 projects through comprehensive development programs. The Foundation continues to expand its support for emerging projects through global hackathons, the Algorand Accelerator program, and various startup initiatives designed to foster growth within the ecosystem.

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