10X Founders Demo Day to Take Place on August 25, 2026, With Sonic as Anchor Partner

• Inspira Labs, Yellow, and Cicada will host the second edition of 10X Founders Demo Day on August 25, 2026.
• Sonic became the event’s first anchor partner and will take part in the founder selection process.
• The prize pool for Demo Day v2.0 will exceed $150,000.

Inspira Labs, Yellow, and Cicada are bringing back their Web3 pitch event on August 25, 2026. It will feature seven co-organizers, and the prize pool will exceed $150,000, according to a press release shared with Incrypted.

As the organizers noted, for the first time, a single ecosystem will get an exclusive seat within the process: Sonic is joining as the anchor partner.

The first edition of 10X Founders Demo Day set a bar that not every pitch event reaches. More than 150 founders applied. Only 12 made it to the stage after being selected based on product, team, growth metrics, tokenomics, and product-market fit.

All seven judges, voting independently, chose the same winner, and the livestream was watched by more than 7,000 people. That is why Inspira Labs, Yellow, and Cicada are holding the second edition of the event on August 25, 2026, with a prize pool of more than $150,000.

The v2.0 update is a dedicated anchor partner seat reserved for a single blockchain ecosystem. It makes it possible to participate in the entire founder selection process, rather than simply sponsoring the event.

Sonic, an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, became the first anchor partner. The event brings together Web3 startups that are ready to raise, active investors, and ecosystem partners through a curated pitch competition focused on fundraising and ecosystem growth.

Choosing a blockchain is a business decision with long-term consequences. It affects a project’s economics, ecosystem support, and distribution long after the pitch is over. At the same time, infrastructure decisions are often made later than product and branding decisions, despite their long-term impact on growth and scalability.

The anchor partner seat was introduced to move infrastructure decisions earlier in the founder journey and embed a single blockchain ecosystem into the process from application to demo day.

Most founders who make it that far are pre-token generation event (TGE) and are still making this decision. As the anchor partner, Sonic does not wait for teams to decide. The ecosystem reviews applications alongside the judging panel and supports teams it believes are ready to build now, while the decision is still open.

Beyond financial support, Sonic has allocated $20,000 in ecosystem grants for the winning team, access to its developer program, hands-on technical guidance, and ecosystem support for every finalist.

Behind this offer are two ongoing programs. Fee Monetization (FeeM) returns developers up to 90% of the network fees generated by an app. This turns product usage into a recurring revenue stream, rather than relying solely on grants.

Innovator Fund offers up to 200 million S from the Sonic Foundation treasury to support apps, infrastructure, and innovative projects being built on Sonic.

Together with Sonic, support is provided by seven co-organizers. Each one covers a specific challenge that a founder faces after the event ends.

• Injective, a Layer 1 blockchain built specifically for finance, with onchain infrastructure for trading, derivatives, and real-world asset markets, provides $20,000 in grant support for the winning team
• Cointelegraph Accelerator, the accelerator arm of Cointelegraph, one of the largest crypto media outlets, adds $10,000 in media credits to help winners reach the right audience
• Hacken, a Web3 cybersecurity company known for smart contract audits and security assessments across the industry, provides $15,000 in audit credits to help teams harden their code before launch
• Galxe, a Web3 community and loyalty platform that helps projects run quest campaigns to grow and reward their user base, provides Essentials Plus packages worth $6,000
• 1inch, a DEX aggregator that routes trades across decentralized exchanges to find the best price for developers and traders, offers $5,000 worth of API usage on the Custom Plan
• Cryptic, a global Web3 marketing agency that handles PR, KOL campaigns, and go-to-market strategy for crypto brands, provides a $5,000 growth marketing package
• Atlas, a blockchain oracle provider backed by CoinMarketCap that delivers high-frequency, first-party price feeds for DeFi protocols and dApps, allocates $5,000 in Atlas Oracle services.

Applications for Web3 founders interested in pitching at the event are open on Luma. Founders will be able to submit a brief overview of the product, team, and growth metrics. The judging panel will review applications ahead of the event to confirm the final lineup of participants.

Inspira Labs is a venture studio and accelerator that helps early-stage founders go from idea to launch. With more than 15 portfolio companies, more than 200 venture partners, and more than $60 million raised for founders, the company provides support across fundraising, go-to-market, ecosystem development, and product to help startups scale.

Yellow is an infrastructure project built around decentralized clearing and settlement for digital asset trading. It operates as a Layer 3 clearing and settlement infrastructure on top of existing blockchains, helping businesses and exchanges move digital assets across networks without a centralized intermediary.

Cicada is a crypto trading firm operating across market making, OTC trading, and liquidity provision in DeFi. The company manages more than $100 million in assets and serves more than 60 clients across centralized and decentralized markets. From supporting listings during a TGE to structured liquidity deals, Cicada helps projects build resilient markets that are attractive to retail investors.

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