Alliance is a leading incubator in the crypto industry, having incubated star projects such as Pump.fun, Pendle, and Tensor. The latest ALL16 cohort has 18 graduating teams, focusing on stablecoin payments, prediction markets, AI applications, and RWA tokenization. From financing for African SMEs to web assistants for the visually impaired, from on-chain Pre-IPO stocks to AI employees for law firms, the founders of these teams come from backgrounds including YC, Jane Street, Apple AI, and the Solana Foundation. Applications for ALL17 are due by March 25.
Alliance ALL16 unveils 18 new projects:
Allod (@AllodFinance) | Enterprise-grade stablecoin bank: Allod enables businesses in emerging markets to transfer USD instantly and at low cost using stablecoins, bypassing manual bank compliance reviews. Allod handles fiat on/off ramps, counterparty compliance, and key management within a product package that feels like an everyday bank account. The founder co-founded Fei Labs.
Predexon (@predexon) | Unified API for prediction markets: Predexon simplifies development on prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi. Developers can use Predexon’s market matching engine to deduplicate and integrate markets from different platforms into a unified interface, and access real-time data pipelines to obtain historical and real-time data.
Superbank (@superbankapp) | Pre-financing liquidity for fintech companies: Superbank helps fintech companies pre-finance fiat bank accounts at a reasonable cost, without incurring excessive debt or equity dilution. The founder previously founded Penta, one of Europe’s largest digital banks.
Givance (@givance_ai) | AI employee for law firms: Givance connects autonomous agents to the entire tech stack of law firms, automating law firm operations. Lawyers can delegate tasks such as client reception, communication, billing, and collections to intelligent agents, reducing administrative overhead.
Deconflict (@deconflict_) | Palantir for financial crime: Deconflict helps financial institutions prevent fraud by directly connecting user data with law enforcement data. More than 800 law enforcement agencies from 26 countries are already connected to the platform.
Crebit (crebitpay.com) | Stablecoin cross-border tuition payments for international students: Crebit uses stablecoin foreign exchange to make cross-border tuition payments faster and cheaper for international students. Itaú, Brazil’s largest bank, has designated Crebit as its official study abroad partner.
Couch (@couch_labs) | AI web assistant for the visually impaired: Couch helps visually impaired people browse the web. It runs as a lightweight browser extension: it first uses AI to understand the entire page, and then only presents the truly important content.
Freeport (@freeportmrkts) | Tradable real-time news feed: Freeport provides real-time breaking news alerts, along with relevant trading directions and analysis, allowing retail investors to instantly “trade the news.”
Inflow (@Inflowpay) | Stripe for cross-border SMEs: Inflow enables any SME to accept bank card payments from around the world at a reasonable price. By rebuilding the merchant record tech stack on the stablecoin rail, Inflow leverages existing connections to secure bank contracts.
Hadron (@Hadron_Fi) | AMM as a service: Hadron makes it simple and low-cost for token teams to deploy their own proprietary AMMs on Solana. Hadron allows any token project to customize pricing and swap logic.
Worm (@wormwtf) | Leveraged prediction markets: Worm provides prediction market traders with more capital-efficient leverage tools. Through a liquidity provision protocol with a dynamic hedging and liquidation engine, Worm allows users to participate in prediction markets with leverage.
Graded (@Gradeddotworld) | On-chain StockX: Graded allows collectors to instantly and securely trade any collectible anywhere in the world. By aggregating existing markets and acting as a custody and settlement layer, Graded unlocks value in the physical collectibles market.
Lucent (uselucent.io) | Tokenization of life sciences: Lucent allows retail investors to purchase private biopharmaceutical assets, specifically drug IP and royalty exposure. Three VC-backed biopharmaceutical companies have already signed up.
Akara (@AkaraMarkets) | Live sports event intelligence: Akara provides retail traders with a low-latency, low-cost edge in sports betting. By deploying a ground scouting network at live games, Akara uses AI to turn real-time audio into actionable intelligence.
Bluvo (@Bluvo_co) | Crypto version of Plaid: Bluvo provides white-label APIs for DeFi applications, enabling seamless and secure direct connections with any centralized exchange (CEX).
Ratio (@ratio_dot_you) | Prediction market social app: Ratio helps retail prediction market participants quickly see what top traders are doing and copy their trades with one click.
Tradevu (@tradevu_co) | Stablecoin bank for African businesses: Tradevu provides instant, low-cost financing to African SMEs by underwriting real trade activity.
PreStocks (@PreStocks) | Tokenized Pre-IPO stocks: PreStocks provides instant liquidity for Pre-IPO stocks to retail investors of any size. Since its launch in August, trading volume has exceeded $350.00 million.
Congratulations to all the founders who advanced to the ALL16 Demo Day. Applications for Alliance ALL17 are due March 25. Apply at alliance.xyz.
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Alliance ALL16 Demo Day Analysis: Prediction Markets, AI, and RWA Tokenization Lead New Wave of Innovation
Alliance’s ALL16 Demo Day showcases an impressive cohort of 18 projects that represent the cutting edge of crypto innovation, with clear emphasis on prediction markets, AI applications, stablecoin infrastructure, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. As an incubator with a proven track record of nurturing successful ventures like Pump.fun, Pendle, and Tensor, Alliance’s latest cohort provides valuable insights into emerging market trends and investment opportunities.
Key Market Themes and Implications
1. Prediction Markets Ecosystem Matures
The emergence of multiple prediction market projects signals a significant maturation of this sector. Predexon’s unified API platform aims to solve fragmentation by aggregating markets across platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi into a single interface. Meanwhile, Worm introduces leverage to prediction markets through a dynamic hedging engine, potentially increasing capital efficiency and attracting more sophisticated traders. Ratio adds a social layer by allowing retail users to copy top traders’ positions.
Market Impact: This ecosystem approach could lower barriers to entry and accelerate prediction market adoption, potentially challenging traditional prediction platforms. The combination of infrastructure (Predexon), financial innovation (Worm), and social features (Ratio) creates a more robust and accessible prediction market ecosystem.
2. AI-Crypto Integration Accelerates
Several projects demonstrate sophisticated integration of AI with crypto applications. Givance automates law firm operations by connecting autonomous agents to legal tech stacks, while Couch provides AI-powered web accessibility for visually impaired users. Akara leverages AI to analyze live sports events, creating trading intelligence for sports betting.
Market Impact: These projects move beyond AI hype to demonstrate practical utility. As regulatory clarity improves and AI technology advances, we can expect more specialized vertical applications to emerge, potentially creating new market categories and investment opportunities.
3. Stablecoin Infrastructure Expands Real-World Use Cases
The cohort features multiple projects leveraging stablecoins for practical applications. Allod provides enterprise-grade stablecoin banking for businesses in emerging markets, while Crebit targets international student tuition payments. Inflow rebuilds payment infrastructure for cross-border SMEs, and Tradevu provides financing for African businesses.
Market Impact: These projects represent the practical adoption of stablecoins beyond trading. As regulatory frameworks evolve, particularly around USDC and other major stablecoins, this infrastructure could become essential for bridging traditional finance and crypto, potentially driving significant new capital into the ecosystem.
4. RWA Tokenization Evolves Beyond Real Estate
The cohort shows a sophisticated approach to RWA tokenization, moving beyond traditional real estate into more complex assets. Lucent tokenizes biopharmaceutical IP and royalties, PreStocks provides liquidity for Pre-IPO stocks, and Graded creates a marketplace for tokenized collectibles.
Market Impact: This evolution suggests RWA tokenization is maturing, targeting higher-value, more complex assets. As regulatory clarity improves and infrastructure develops, these tokenization models could unlock trillions in illiquid assets and bring institutional capital into crypto.
Investment Opportunities and Risks
Opportunities:
- Infrastructure Plays: Projects like Predexon (prediction market APIs), Hadron (AMM as a service), and Bluvo (crypto Plaid) provide essential infrastructure that could become indispensable as their respective ecosystems grow.
- Vertical Solutions: Specialized applications targeting specific industries (legal, education, collectibles) may capture significant value by solving real-world problems in underserved markets.
- Emerging Market Focus: Projects targeting emerging markets (Allod, Tradevu) address massive pain points in regions with inadequate traditional financial infrastructure.
Risks:
- Regulatory Uncertainty: Many projects operate in evolving regulatory landscapes, particularly prediction markets with leverage (Worm) and tokenized securities (PreStocks, Lucent).
- Market Fragmentation: Multiple projects in similar verticals may lead to winner-takes-all dynamics, with only a few surviving and capturing most value.
- Execution Challenges: These ambitious projects require significant technical and business execution capabilities, with a high failure rate typical for early-stage ventures.
Broader Market Implications
The ALL16 cohort reflects several important trends in the crypto ecosystem:
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Maturation Infrastructure: The incubator is funding more middleware and infrastructure projects, suggesting the base layer is maturing and enabling more sophisticated applications.
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Utility-First Approach: Projects demonstrate clear practical utility beyond pure speculation, indicating a market shift toward sustainable value creation.
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Specialization Over Generality: Successful projects are targeting specific verticals with deep domain expertise rather than attempting to be comprehensive platforms.
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Hybrid Models: The most promising projects combine traditional finance concepts with crypto-native innovations, creating hybrid models that appeal to both Web2 and Web3 users.
Conclusion
Alliance’s ALL16 cohort provides a compelling vision for the future of crypto, with prediction markets, AI integration, stablecoin infrastructure, and sophisticated RWA tokenization leading the way. The incubator’s focus on high-quality teams with strong technical and business backgrounds increases the likelihood of success for these ventures.
For experienced investors, this cohort represents both opportunities in emerging verticals and risks in an increasingly competitive landscape. The most promising projects are likely those that solve real problems with clear utility, backed by strong teams capable of navigating both technical and regulatory challenges.
As the crypto ecosystem continues to mature, we can expect more specialized applications and infrastructure projects that bridge the gap between traditional finance and crypto, potentially driving the next wave of adoption and value creation.