Pump.fun Launches Direct Investment, Spending $3 Million to Buy 12 New Meme Coins
- Core Viewpoint: Pump.fun has launched a $3 million Pump Fund, investing in 12 new tokens through its inaugural Build in Public hackathon. The initiative aims to leverage its substantial capital and platform resources to screen and support promising Meme projects, providing the market with new assets evaluated through more dimensions.
- Key Elements:
- The Pump Fund will invest $3 million, acquiring stakes in 12 new tokens launched on Pump.fun at a $10 million valuation, while also providing resources such as funding and founder mentorship.
- The Build in Public hackathon introduces a market evaluation mechanism, requiring participants to launch a token, build their product publicly, and hold at least 10% of the token supply. Winners are determined by token performance and community traction.
- The Pump.fun platform has generated a historic total revenue of $954.8 million, possessing strong financial power to explore new pathways for ecosystem rewards.
- The application period for this program opened on January 19th, with a 30-day application window. The first batch of winning projects will be announced on February 18th, but the selection process will continue long-term.
- The core judging principles for winning projects prioritize organic user growth and genuine appeal over hype driven by personal connections, while also evaluating the project's long-term sustainability.
Original | Odaily（@OdailyChina）
Author｜Azuma（@azuma_eth）
On the morning of January 20th, Pump.fun officially announced the launch of its investment division, Pump Fund. Pump Fund will launch its first project, the Build in Public (BiP) hackathon, this month. It will invest $3 million in 12 new tokens launched through the platform, allocating $250,000 to each token, corresponding to a valuation of $10 million. In addition to financial support, Pump.fun will also provide professional guidance from its founders and other substantial resources.
As the project with the strongest revenue-generating capability in the entire Meme sector, this is, to our knowledge, the first time Pump.fun has explicitly used official channels to directly support specific Meme tokens with real capital (the attitude might be more significant than the funding scale). Therefore, the selected tokens have great potential to become the frontrunners in the Meme sector in the coming period.
Pump.fun's Revenue-Generating Power
Pump.fun's staggering revenue capability is no secret. Data compiled by analyst Adam (@Adam_Tehc) on Dune shows that Pump.fun's total historical revenue has reached $954.8 million. Although daily revenue has significantly declined with the cooling of the Meme market, it still amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars per day.
Holding substantial real capital, Pump.fun is also exploring other ways to give back to its ecosystem beyond PUMP token buybacks. The Pump Fund and its affiliated BiP hackathon represent Pump.fun's latest attempt in this direction.
BiP Hackathon Details
According to the description on the BiP hackathon's dedicated page, the project aims to support founders who launch tokens on Pump.fun and build their products publicly. Unlike traditional hackathons where participants rely on VCs or judges for evaluation to compete for prizes, the BiP hackathon aims to introduce token performance as a variable, letting the market judge whether a project is worth pursuing, while allowing users to become the earliest investors.
Discussing this key difference, Pump.fun founder Alon posted on X: "Before Pump.fun, my co-founder and I tried many different ideas. Consumer finance, DeFi, SocialFi, NFTs — all failed. One of the biggest problems we faced was that we found it incredibly difficult to get our products in front of users. Trying to reach the right audience was an extremely tedious task..."
Specifically, the BiP hackathon requires:
- Participants must launch a token on Pump.fun and then build their product publicly;
- Participants must also hold at least 10% of the token supply to align incentives;
- Finally, the event strongly encourages founders to communicate publicly on social media like X or stream on Pump.fun to maintain effective community engagement.
Regarding the types of projects, Pump.fun has set no restrictions; they are not even limited to cryptocurrency-related products. Projects from different market stages and verticals are welcome to participate.
As for the final selection of the 12 winning projects, Pump.fun has not provided specific rules but has outlined two key principles: First, organic user growth and genuine appeal are valued over connections and flashy marketing. Second, in addition to the product's own appeal/social media traction, the event will also assess the project's long-term sustainability.
Key Timelines to Watch
According to the BiP hackathon schedule, applications opened on January 19th. Participants need to launch their token and begin public building (including streaming development progress, sharing regular updates, maintaining community interaction) at the time of application. The application window will remain open for 30 days. On February 18th, Pump.fun will announce the first batch of winning projects and provide funding (at least one will be announced). Considering some projects may need more time to gain market attention and demonstrate appeal, the program will run continuously.
So the timeline is clear. If you want to spot potential opportunities among this batch of Meme tokens, you need to start paying attention to newly launched tokens on Pump.fun from now on, especially those with the Pump Fund or BiP tags. Although the first batch of winning tokens won't be announced for another 30 days, tokens likely to be selected by Pump.fun will inevitably demonstrate competitiveness before that.
Overall, while this Pump.fun initiative may not be enough to revive collective sentiment across the entire Meme market, it should at least contribute some new tokens with clearer evaluation criteria.
