1517 Fund Medici Grant
Program Details
| Type | 100% non-dilutive. |
| Process | Email your application, 15m interview |
| Grant Amount | $1k |
Resources
Recipients
Join LFG to get advice from people who've received the grant such as:
- Advait Paliwal, working on cognitive architecture for LLMs
- Kai Goodall, building a rocket-propelled skateboard
- Gavin Yuan, creating a propane and electric melting furnace for metal casting
Grantee Reviews
Additional Context
The 1517 Fund’s Medici Grant program offers $1,000 cash grants to young builders looking to turn their ideas into reality.
Similar to the fund's thesis surrounding their venture capital investments, this program encourages bold leaps into uncharted territory, often times aimed and funding sci-fi-level projects.
Unlike the majority of their dilutive investments, however, grantees are typically capital-constrained high school and university students.
Medici Grants are awarded to those who have a compelling idea, show real passion for the problem space, and have proven they have the ability to ship.
With a simple application process, the check can be used for any aspect of a recipient's project as long as it contributes to the project's progress.
While there are no strict requirements on spending, Danielle and the team encourage a "creatively scrappy" use of resources to maximize impact.
Beyond the financial support, grantees gain access to a community Discord server and access to 1517 pop-ups in different cities across the US and Canada.
The Medici Project has been the first catalyst and believer for thousands of compelling ideas to date. They're the real OGs of microgrants for startups. Startups in deep tech, VR/AR, healthtech, etc have gone on to raise millions shortly after receiveing non-dilutive funding from 1517.
A great example of this is a company called Pareto, which raised $4.5 million in funding two years after receiving a Medici grant, showcasing the microgrant's potential to propel early-stage projects toward real progress, fast.
Interview-Prep Resources
After emailing Danielle, you might be asked to hop on a short interview call with either Danielle, Harry, or another 1517 Fund GP/team member. Regardless of who you speak with, it's useful (and fun) to get a better understanding of how the fund thinks about what kind of founders they want to support.