We want to invite the community to test a complementary pathway for funding and building products using Polkadot. In Brazil, we’ve been developing a model that channels institutional resources into product development — and we believe it can be replicated worldwide. Our goal is to share this approach, born from our decentralized consultancy plan, as a way to strengthen product creation globally. At its core, we are exploring a simple but important question: what funding models exist for blockchain adoption that complement treasury, W3F, and venture capital?
Introduction
We are on the verge of mastering how to build and finance products in Brazil — and using the same mechanism, we can scale this model worldwide. We should see ourselves not just as local actors, but as a global force, capable of turning national achievements into international strategies.
This proposal outlines a program that focuses exclusively on product development (corporate-grade solutions or consumer applications). The same mechanisms that we are deploying in Brazil can be connected globally, opening a new pathway for sustainable adoption.
We now have the opportunity to expand this scope of funding even further. Within just a few years, this model can achieve growing volumes year after year, creating a community and ecosystem of products that can complement on other ways of funding. On the contrary, these initiatives can begin to contribute back to the ecosystem in other ways, generating a sustainable cycle of growth and innovation.
Already, Sunsetlabs has secured a R$ 40 million (≈US$ 8M) three-year R&D program with a major institution, and built partnerships through agreements and contracts with laboratories, research and innovation entities, and ICTs capable of financing up to R$ 3 million (≈US$ 600k) per project, covering 70% of costs. These milestones are not isolated wins: they represent the foundation of a hybrid model that can be replicated beyond Brazil, offering the entire Polkadot community a new way to capture institutional funding and deliver real products at scale.
In Brazil, corporations regularly channel mandatory innovation incentives into universities, research centers, and ICTs (Technology and Science Institute). It was through working directly with these corporations that we developed our strategy to prove that institutional mechanisms can be powerful levers for blockchain adoption. What we learned is that large companies are not just targets for adoption, they are also distribution channels, capable of cascading solutions across entire value chains.
Brazil itself is a strong case study: the country invests between R$ 26 and R$ 40 billion annually (≈US$ 5.2–8 billion) in research, development, and innovation through its innovation matrix: public programs, fiscal incentives, and corporate R&D obligations. This makes it one of the largest institutional markets for technology adoption in the world, with blockchain increasingly included in national and corporate agendas (including the financial industry as a whole).
At the same time, Brazil’s economy is marked by extreme concentration: less than 0.5% of companies generate over 50% of GDP, while the 200 largest corporations alone account for 63.5% of national output. Strategic sectors such as energy, oil & gas, finance, and private healthcare are dominated by a handful of players, whose decisions shape entire value chains. This concentration is not unique to Brazil it mirrors patterns in other major economies. In such environments, blockchain adoption cannot rely on startups alone. It must penetrate institutions and corporations at scale, embedding itself within their structures and leveraging them as distribution multipliers.
This scenario led us to open structured conversations with ICTs, universities, and incentive programs. As a result, we are now in a position where we can and must use these mechanisms in favor of Polkadot’s community and products building.
Sunsetlabs: What We Structured
What Sunsetlabs has already done:
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Secured a R$ 40 million (≈US$ 8M) three-year R&D program with a major institution, channeling corporate incentives from Brazil’s innovation matrix into blockchain-focused research and development. The program is structured to create solutions in Polkadot, Cardano, and Ethereum, some developed independently, others in collaboration, all funded at the company’s request.
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Structured partnerships through formal agreements and contracts with laboratories, R&D entities, and ICTs, unlocking another mechanism of funding that can finance up to R$ 3 million (≈US$ 600k) per project, covering 70% of project costs. In practice, this means that for a project of R$ 4.3 million, R$ 3 million would be covered by institutional funding, while only 30% would need to come from the private partner.
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Positioned blockchain adoption as part of national innovation strategies, ensuring credibility with corporates, universities, and public agencies.
Where we want to go next:
- Establish a proven hybrid model of institutional engagement and funding capture that can be replicated globally. The opportunity is to maximize the use of Brazil’s innovation matrix, and equivalent systems worldwide, as a sustainable funding pathway for the Polkadot ecosystem.
How It Works
We are building a hybrid model that combines venture building, VC logic, and public grants, turning Brazil’s innovation matrix into a scalable funding mechanism for blockchain.
There are two main pathways:
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Corporate-led programs
Large corporations in Brazil often direct their mandatory innovation incentives into universities and ICTs. In this model, blockchain solutions are developed under programs fully financed by corporate R&D obligations. Sunsetlabs has already secured such a program up to R$ 40 million (≈US$ 8M), dedicated to blockchain research and product development. -
ICT-led co-investment projects
Through agreements with ICTs and research entities, projects can access funding that covers up to 70% of total costs, reaching R$ 3 million (≈US$ 600k) per project. The private partner contributes the remaining 30%. Functionally, this operates like a blend of venture capital and a venture builder:-
the ICT acts as the engineering provider, authorized to access public funding;
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the entrepreneur or partner team contributes a minority share of resources;
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the outcome is a finished product or prototype built under academic–industry collaboration.
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This structure ensures:
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Milestone accountability: funding is tied to delivery, not discretionary startup spending.
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Product-focused outcomes: entrepreneurs and corporates receive working solutions, not just capital.
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Institutional multipliers: engineers embedded in ICTs and labs expand the talent pool while accelerating adoption.
Most importantly, these mechanisms are not limited to Brazil. We can use Brazilian Mechanism, as many countries have similar structures within their own innovation matrices. By leveraging both corporate-led funding and ICT co-investment models, Polkadot teams worldwide can replicate this hybrid approach, securing sustainable funding, embedding blockchain into institutions, and scaling adoption well beyond isolated pilots.
Do you have an Opinion?
What do you think about this?
If this resonates, let’s discuss how we can expand this model beyond Brazil and establish it as a program for the Polkadot ecosystem, focused entirely on product development.
