We sat down with Simon Chadwick From Eclipse Fi, to learn more about this new hub for interchain token launches.
With a background in sales, business development, and marketing, Simon stepped into the world of web3 around 2016. There was a long studied journey that eventually led to the development of Eclipse fi. After speaking with multiple founders, Simon and his team identified a big gap in the market for trusted launch solutions. Simon had been building education in the Terra Ecosystem, then post-collapse, they turned their attention to Cosmos. He saw airdrop fatigue set in and realized they needed another option. The farming audience was not the best choice for helping new projects get off the ground.
High quality builders needed support, and the ecosystem didn’t have it. Predatory actors were abundant, and IDO launch pads were focused on flipping tokens, which stifled long term growth and sustainability for quality projects. If a founder wanted help with their go-to-market strategy, they had to pay a premium, and the options were still limited.
Eclipse Fi was formed to solve this problem. Offering projects a go-to-market path that was sustainable, attracting higher quality users, while supporting the founders and projects through that journey of navigating centralized exchanges and launches.
While Eclipse Fi provides the obvious service of fundraising, they take a different approach than other ROI focused launch pads. They prefer to focus on the long term growth of the project rather than a quick exit. Eclipse Fi helps projects work with centralized exchanges, helping them choose the right ones to use, rather than just going for quantity. They’ll also help projects navigate market makers.
But what’s more important is their hands-on approach. Builders should be focused on developing their project, not jumping the many hurdles associated with launching in web3. This is where Eclipse Fi shines, guiding founders with options that are more in their own interest, as opposed to the many investors out there for their biggest piece of the pie.
Eclipse Fi recently acquired a governance aggregator. This will enable them to control large amounts of voting power in liquidity redirection on Astroport DEX. Having this within Eclipse Fi helps them create a flywheel where they can redirect liquidity to the projects they are launching. This helps their projects take another step toward long term sustainability.
They’ve been heavily focused on Astroport Dex lately, and have a close relationship with Delphi Labs, which has created another point of synergy. “The idea is that we accumulate large amounts of voting power in Astroport and vote on sending incentives back towards the projects that are listed through Eclipse,” Simon said. They’ve eventually created an ecosystem of liquidity.
Eclipse Fi is mainly focused on DeFi, and Layer 1 and 2 infrastructure based projects for the time being. They are extremely focused on risk, so they tend to look for protocols that have an unfair advantage. “We’re not just creating a copy of something else and then putting a new label on it and trying to launch it with hype. We’re looking for things that have a chance to compete,” Simon said.
Within Eclipse Fi, a staking model forms the basis of interaction. By staking their token, users earn something called Cosmic Essence, which provides access to launches. It’s a point based system and the longer you lock your tokens, the higher the Cosmic Essence. Tiers will essentially decide the amount of access investors have to early investments, and while investors can buy their way in, Eclipse Fi also has a merit based system. The tiers essentially open up opportunities in the ecosystem and project airdrops in the future in addition to other perks. This allows investors the ability to engage their way into earning allocations by having a good reputation. Examples might be holding tokens, or participating in projects. Cosmic essence will also help to control the voting power that Eclipse owns on Astroport for liquidity redirection.
For projects interested in launching with Eclipse Fi, it’s not as simple as raising your hand. They want to see good research and professional thought being put into the business building side. Not just “oh yeah, we’re crypto, so it’s just going to do well,” Simon said. They look for quality decks that explain how well you know your main competitor and niche and if you have the ability to dominate it.
The launches have already started over at Eclipse Fi and Bonus Block is up next, with Aethir Node Sale, DeMex, and Stabble launching soon.
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