Grants for builders on Stellar in 2026
The Stellar Community Fund (SCF) funds teams building on Stellar and Soroban, with awards decided by community voting: up to $150K in XLM on the Build track, and Instawards for small work. Data from our web3 grant tracker, last verified 2026-09-27.
What gets funded on Stellar
Focus (tracker): Stellar / Soroban ecosystem, community-voted. Ticket: up to $150K in XLM (Build); Instawards for small work. No stage requirement is listed and no equity is taken. Funding is decided in voting rounds.
From the official page (communityfund.stellar.org, checked 2026-09-30):
- Instawards: small, accelerated funding and incubation through local Stellar Ambassador Chapters, for early-stage builders doing focused work.
- Build: up to $150,000 in XLM to take a validated project from concept to launch on Stellar, through three award tracks.
- Grow: after a mainnet launch, routes include the SDF Marketing, Matching and Enterprise Fund, and connections to accelerators.
- Verified community members vote on award allocations through the fund’s Neural Quorum Governance system.
- Budgets are requested in XLM; the USD value is calculated from a reference XLM price on the day of payment.
Stellar grant programs: amounts, stage, type
| Program | Ticket | Stage | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stellar Community FundOfficial: communityfund.stellar.org | Up to $150K in XLM (Build); Instawards for small work | Any | Community fund |
Equity, per the tracker: “No” for this program. Terms change, so confirm on the official page before you apply.
Also for Stellar projects: Giveth’s quadratic funding rounds include a Stellar Community Growth round that runs Sep 21–Oct 4, 2026. The tracker lists Giveth’s ticket as “Varies (QF matching pools, e.g. $50K)”. See Giveth quadratic funding rounds.
Which route fits your team
- Early-stage, small and focused piece of work — Instawards, through a local Stellar Ambassador Chapter.
- Validated project going from concept to launch — Build award: up to $150K in XLM.
- Already launched on mainnet — Grow: the marketing, matching and enterprise funding routes.
- Private review instead of a community vote — SCF awards are voted on by the community. For a private review and a reply within days, see the next section.
Chain-agnostic options
Ecosystem programs fund work on their own chain. The options below do not depend on the chain you build on, and none of them stops you from applying to the Stellar program above as well.
ZK Prime Capital grants. $5K–$75K, no equity, idea or prototype stage welcome, reply within 5 business days. The same application document you write for Stellar Community Fund is accepted, and there is no exclusivity. If the milestone ships, the fund can continue into a $50K–$250K round, 3–6 months of incubation and a token launch. How the program works.
ZK Prime funds three kinds of project on any chain, Stellar included: on-chain AI agents, DeFAI and ZK infrastructure. If yours is one of them, the chain you build on is not a filter.
Public-goods rounds. For open-source and public-goods work, the tracker lists quadratic funding rounds that are not tied to one chain: Gitcoin and Giveth.
Everything in one table. The web3 grants tracker compares all 27 programs by ticket, equity and stage; each has a program guide.
Building on Stellar? Apply to ZK Prime in parallel
Same document, no exclusivity. $5K–$75K non-dilutive grants for on-chain AI agents, DeFAI and ZK infrastructure at idea or prototype stage; reply within 5 business days.
Apply with the same doc ▸Frequently asked questions
How much funding can builders on Stellar get?
Our tracker lists the ticket for Stellar Community Fund as: Up to $150K in XLM (Build); Instawards for small work. Confirm current amounts on the official page; last verified 2026-09-27.
Do Stellar grant programs take equity?
No. Our tracker lists Stellar Community Fund as non-dilutive: no equity is taken. ZK Prime Capital grants are non-dilutive as well.
Who decides which projects the Stellar Community Fund pays?
The community. Our tracker lists the Stellar Community Fund as community-voted, with funding decided in voting rounds, and the official page says verified members vote on award allocations. Write the submission for community voters as well as for technical reviewers.
Grants on other chains
Ethereum & L2s · Arbitrum · Optimism · Starknet · Solana · Avalanche · Sui · Aptos · Polkadot · Celo · Aleo · Zcash · Tezos · Stacks · Filecoin · Cosmos · Cardano · all chains
Source: ZK Prime web3 grant tracker, last verified 2026-09-27; official pages checked 2026-09-30. Writing the application: one-page template. Spotted an outdated detail? Open a PR.