Galaxy-Backed Plume To Support RWA Startups, Launches $500K Accelerator

Plume:- The tokenization of Real World Assets (RWAs) is a booming phenomenon in Web3. The industry is now witnessing new categories of assets being brought onchain – from startup equity deals to public equities themselves.

As the RWA market and trading volumes continue to grow, Plume, backed by Galaxy Ventures, has launched an accelerator program to support emerging RWA startups.

Operated by Odisea, the program is run in coalition with leading fintech and blockchain players. These include Galaxy Ventures, Morpho, OKX Ventures, Anchorage Digital, Centrifuge among others.

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Which RWA Startups Will Receive Funding and Support

The Ascend Accelerator program slated to run from September 1 – October 30 will support only 6-8 RWA Startups. These companies are set to receive mentorship sessions and support from leading founders and experts.

Few of the notable names that will provide selected startups with mentorship include Yzi Labs’ Investment Director Nicola W, Coinbase Ventures’ Investor JK, partner from OKX Ventures – Benson Y. Other mentors will be founders and CEOs of Centrifuge, Plune, Agora among others.

Things that will be taught to selected RWA founders include:

1. preparing fundraising pitches for leading VCs,

2. helping work on the products with legal support to ensure regulatory standards, and

3. strategic support for customer acquisition and market positioning.

Accordingly, the program is dividing into weeks with each week focusing on different facets of the product – from marketing and shipping to Protocol design, user acquisition to Fundraising.

The accelerator will culminate in a Demo Day where founders will feature their progress to a curated audience of industry leaders and institutional investors. If successful, there are chances of a potential access to a $500,000 discretionary fund provided by partner sponsors to scale standout solutions.

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Booming RWA Market

The launch of Ascend comes at a pivotal moment for the RWA sector which has swelled into a $25 billion market. This is nearly five times its size since 2022. Tokenized U.S. Treasuries alone have ballooned from a $100 million niche to a $7.5 billion market. The market is projected to reach $50 billion by year end and $4 trillion by 2030 (McKinsey).

According to Plume, “RWAs represent crypto’s biggest unlock yet — not just by bringing existing financial products onchain, but by allowing us to reimagine how they’re accessed, traded, and structured.”

However, it still continues to grapple with challenges. These include fragmented infrastructure between DeFi’s permissionless innovation and the compliance demands of institutional investors. The accelerator program like these can help budding RWA projects tackle these challenges and drive new innovations.