Last Month on OpenPad | Ecosystem and Project Updates
From being accepted to highly exclusive startup acceleration programs, to securing office space at Turkey's Silicon Valley (CyberPark). It has been a hectic month for OpenPad, let's break it down.
They always say it’s about the journey, not the destination, or don’t forget to smell the roses on the way. Not everyone talks about it, but the roses have thorns on them, and the journey is not smooth, but we always say if it were easy, everyone would do it. We started OpenPad with an underdog story we believed in; we wanted to give the little guy a fighting chance in this hyper-financialized 21st century where winners keep on winning, taking the largest slices of the pie to themselves. We know, we know, it’s as cliche as it gets, but without a story/ideal to strive towards we wouldn’t be who we are.
Though it has not been easy, and it’s nowhere near completion, we have hit some milestones that we are proud to share because the road to get here has been full of doubt, disappointments, sleepless nights, and burnt-out days, yet we are still standing. Like a ship in a storm, we are still headed to our destination, we may stumble, but we won’t sink. This one is for everyone out there who puts their heart, their soul, and their tears into something they believe in.
We have some exciting updates in store this month, electrifying enough to fuel us for the project's next stage. OpenPad has been our baby for almost a year now; we set out to democratize the private market, or investments outside of the stock market, which was historically reserved for institutional and wealthy individuals. These include investments in private equity, investment banking, private lending, real estate, venture capital, real assets such as artwork, and even Web3. Democratizing the private market, including venture capital and investment banking space via lowering the investment barriers to the surface, OpenPad unlocks deeply-vetted, insurance-based & allocation-guaranteed domain-agnostic token sales starting from $1 for everyone.
Start out with just $1, that was and is our goal. We are still building towards that goal while adding many new features that would protect the hard-earned cash of investors from malicious intent. We introduced collateral-free fractional insurance funds (FIF), and we are working on another traditional insurance model, the details of which we will share in another article. Our aim has always been to make OpenPad open for everyone, a safe haven, and a platform that serves the interests of its users, not itself. We are all alone together, and together we are stronger than all. Coming real soon…
Enough with the sentimentality, time to share what updates we have in store.
Yapı Kredi Fast FRWRD Acceleration Program in partnership with Avalanche
For those who are uninitiated, Yapı Kredi is one of the biggest banks in Turkey. OpenPad has been selected to be a part of their highly exclusive acceleration program that is also sponsored by Avalanche. Among 150+ applications to the program, only 13 have made it through, and we are proud to say that OpenPad has been one of the honored 13. Startups accepted to the Yapı Kredi Fast FRWRD program, will be provided opportunities such as training, mentoring, consultancy, cooperation, and PoC support. We will write a comprehensive overview of the program upon its completion, but we would like to state that it has been a learning experience and a pleasure so far.
For more on this, check out the official FRWD website and these articles in the Turkish press, coindesk article, fintech Istanbul article, paramevzu article, and fintechtime article.
Startups.Watch Fintech Demo Day
After an extensive application process, OpenPad was selected as one of the ten promising fintech startups to present to investors as part of Startups.watch fintech demo day event. You can find the presentation here.
For more on this check out this press article.
Invest-Up Ankara Tekmer Event
OpenPad was selected to be a part of the pitching session of the Invest-Up event. The event consists of panels where experienced entrepreneurs will share their experiences and the insights of the investors, along with listening to the presentations of promising entrepreneurs in search of active investment, and the end of the event entails a pleasant cocktail where you expand your business network. OpenPad team has immensely benefited from this event and is proud to be selected to pitch as a promising project.
For more on this event check out onedio’s article, founderpath’s website, and bthaber’s article.
Cyberpark Office Space
Cyberpark, located in Turkey’s one of if not the most highly ranked university Bilkent’s campus, is an office space for hosting promising and already established companies. For the uninitiated, Cyberpark can be interpreted as Turkey’s silicon valley in the capitol Ankara.
After a rigorous selection/jury process, OpenPad has been selected to be one of the companies that will occupy a spot in this highly exclusive office space that is being built as part of the Cyberpark.
The newly built Ankara Tech Bridge premises will also act as an incubation hub where promising Web3 projects will be hosted along with OpenPad!
For more details check out hürriyet’s article.
Thanks for reading up on our updates! We just scratched the surface, a lot more coming soon…
Resources to Learn & Invest with OpenPad
🕸 Home: openpad.app
📖 Docs: docs.openpad.app
🧢 Twitter: twitter.com/OpenPadCitizens
📒 Web3 Newsletter: openpad.substack.com
🔗 Official Links: linktr.ee/openpad