Source: Vladimir Kazakov – Adobe Stock
- Zeitgeist has closed a $1.5M seed round to develop the prediction market hub in Polkadot’s Web3 ecosystem.
- The prediction market is expected to be ready as a parachain on Kusama towards the end of the year.
Industry veteran Zeitgeist has closed a $1.5 million seed round to build prediction markets on Kusama and Polkadot. In a press release available to CNF, the company said the round included participation from D1 Ventures, Genblock Capital, AU21 Capital, Digital Renaissance, A195 Capital, Four Seasons Ventures, Brilliance Ventures, BlockSync Ventures, the co-founders of Acala and an individual from the Web3 Foundation.
The funding will be used to accelerate the development of the Zeitgeist Network, a hub and ecosystem for Web3 prediction markets. Logan Saether, founder and CEO of Zeitgeist stated:
Prediction markets are powerful mechanisms for aggregating information and improving decision making, and Zeitgeist puts that power into the hands of more people to drive mainstream adoption. We have an experienced team who understands how to deliver on the promise of prediction markets, and we’re thrilled to have such an amazing group of investors backing Zeitgeist.
In addition to the core prediction markets function, Zeitgeist will also rely on an innovative on-chain governance model based on prediction markets called Futarchy. The function will use signals derived from the data aggregation property of prediction markets to make better decisions about the evolution of the network.
Zeitgeist is built on Polkadot’s blockchain framework Substrate and is expected to be ready as a parachain on Kusama towards the end of the year. The team intends to establish itself as a hub for prediction markets in Polkadot’s Web3 ecosystem, like Augur or Gnosis on Ethereum. Tamara Frankel, founding partner of D1 Ventures said:
The concept of Futarchy goes hand in hand with the ethos and on-chain governance capabilities of the Kusama ecosystem. I’m an avid user of prediction markets on Ethereum, and it’s exciting to imagine the possibilities within the Kusama and greater Polkadot ecosystems.
Ruitao Su, co-founder of Acala and an individual investor in Zeitgeist, shares the enthusiasm, stating, “I am super excited to back another specialized network in the Kusama and Polkadot ecosystem. Zeitgeist is a network purposely built for prediction markets. I can’t wait to explore the new possibilities enabled by Zeitgeist – low transaction costs, seamless access to parachain assets such as the Karura Dollar (kUSD) or Acala Dollar (aUSD), forkless upgrades, and so much more.”
