On the heels of announcing a $10 million grants program in partnership with XPLA, decentralized GPU cloud network Aethir has now announced a $100 million ecosystem fund, of which that $10 million program is a part.

With the goal to accelerate growth in the AI and gaming sectors, the fund will offer developers access to Aethir’s GPU compute platform as well as financial support via grants and subsidies.

Backed by the Aethir Foundation, the fund comprises three main programs.

• Firstly, Aethir Catalyst, a $20 million grant program offering support to over 100 projects in the form of GPU compute. This will be funded by the distribution of 336 million ATH tokens equally between AI and gaming during 2025. 
• Secondly, two additional $10 million grant programs – one recently launched in partnership with XPLA and one with Base-based gaming L3 XAI – are spearheaded to promote innovations in AI applications and gaming.
• Thirdly, the fund also includes a subsidy program, offering developers in need of GPU compute up to 35% off platform service costs. 

Aethir co-founder and CSO Mark Rydon commented, “Aethir Catalyst represents a significant commitment to democratizing access to GPU compute for AI and gaming innovators. By allocating $20 million to this fund from Aethir Foundation’s $100 million ecosystem fund, we are ensuring that the most promising companies have the resources they need to thrive in these sectors, and that the barriers to accessing compute power are reduced for everyone.”

As for the companies Aethir is looking to onboard, it hopes to offer something for early-stage startups of both smaller and larger scale, from AI-integrated enterprises to cloud gaming initiatives. Developers will be evaluated based on innovation, growth potential, compute needs, and more.

Expanding its ecosystem strategy further, Aethir has also launched a new social media and AI product powered by Aethir Edge compute network.

Designed to support more complex AI workloads and drive scalability of enterprise social media platforms, this initiative will see Aethir Foundation distribute around 100 ATH daily in compute rewards to all eligible Edge devices, which cost $1,300 apiece.

Starting November 2024 and ending mid-2025, Aethir says this gives users a chance to actively contribute to the growth of its infrastructure while being rewarded for their participation.

Find out more on how to apply at aethir.com.

Continuing to expand its ecosystem strategy, distributed GPU network Aethir has partnered with Com2uS’ blockchain arm XPLA on a $10 million grants fund to boost the future of AI-driven blockchain games.

With the ever-evolving gaming market, AI’s inevitable role is becoming more evident by the day, while web3 technology is posed to underpin much of the future gaming infrastructure. 

To that end, XPLA brings its infrastructure expertise and publishing to the joint program, whereas Aethir offers its GPU cloud computing credits, as well as community development support. Together the companies aim to accelerate the growth of AI-driven games, dapps and other web3 projects.

Apart from technical support, the initiative also offers $10 million in financial grants, to bring more game developers to each ecosystem and help them build, scale, and launch their projects.

More particularly, XPLA will offer game developers:

• Consulting in blockchain technology
• Grants for reduced transaction costs
• Game infrastructure guidance and optimization
• Support in terms of UX and tokenomics

Aethir will offer its:

• GPU cloud infrastructure for high-performance computing
• Go-to-market strategies and community-building resources
• Cloud integration and technical support

One specific criteria the fund is looking for in projects is product-market fit, or “projects with a strong potential for commercialization and growth”. Both innovation in integrating AI, web3 and cloud infrastructure, as well as an emphasis on being able to bring this tech to mainstream gaming, are highlighted.