Grants Program

The DIMO Ignite Grants Program is a catalyst for the DIMO ecosystem. We provide milestone-based funding to builders contributing to infrastructure and apps that make DIMO more useful and scalable.

Table of Contents

  • Core Beliefs
  • Goals and KPIs
  • Operational Notes
  • Grant Categories
  • Application Developers
  • DCX Grant for Building an App or Feature Using DIMO
  • Retroactive Grant for Successful Apps Launched
  • App Bounties
  • DIMO On Base
  • Hardware Product Development
  • Data Integrators
  • Dev Tools, Protocol, and Decentralizing DIMO
  • Discretionary Grants

Core Beliefs

Velocity and examples of apps built on DIMO are a good method to create magnetism and show other developers what’s possible, building a flywheel.

  • Many builders are hamstrung by access to capital and simply need an excuse to try building on DIMO.

  • DIMO will be more resilient if there are more open source contributors to the project. 

  • Efficiency is important. It’s no good to waste a builder's or the committee’s time. 

Goals and KPIs

Apps Launched: Facilitate the launch of apps on DIMO by giving developers motivation to start their project and build a connection to DIMO. We will measure how many apps launch with some form of DIMO integration. 

  • Protocol Contributors: Growing the number of individuals contributing to the protocol helps to decentralize DIMO and accelerate the rate at which it can grow.

  • Time to Review (Efficiency): It’s feasible for the grants committee to move quickly, assessing applications, interviewing candidates, and voting within 2-3 weeks. Payments can and should be arranged within 1 week once milestones are met.

Operational Notes

The grant program is not an investment fund and its success will not be measured by the ROI on the funds invested. If the Ignite Program is successful on the goals above, it should increase the value of the DIMO Network and resilience of the project. 

  • Not all application developers will qualify. If there are already several existing developers for a particular type of application (for example, Fleet Management solutions) the committee is unlikely to consider a grant. 

  • The composition of the committee will change to include committed members.

Grant Categories

Application Developers

Because of their role in driving value to the network, application developers are eligible for grants in Data Credits, which help cover the costs of using the DIMO Protocol, and retroactive grants for exceptional products delivered. 

Developers give end users (drivers, fleets) more useful applications by providing them new ways to use their data and in order to do so, these applications pay the protocol. DIMO believes that the future connected car experience — and even beyond that to other IoT devices and autonomous agents — will be enriched with the proliferation of many applications built on standardized data and connectivity. 

At the moment, DIMO’s developer tools are new and the applications available to users are few and far between. Providing the community and world with more examples of the utility of DIMO is critical, so we’ll focus on funding PoCs and MVPs to get teams shipping example DIMO apps quickly. The DIMO Ignite team has a few models for rewarding grant developers, outlined below. 

Importantly, the DIMO Grants team is not a seed fund and is not meant to evaluate the long-term viability of businesses applying for grants, although it should take this into consideration.

DCX Grant for Building an App or Feature Using DIMO

Retroactive Grant for Successful Apps Launched

Description: DIMO has made available developer tools like the DIMO Data SDK and the “Login with DIMO” component that make building a product or feature that utilizes DIMO connectivity easy.  For some developers, the cost of accessing vehicle data will be the first hurdle as they aim to establish their own business model.

  • Amounts Available: 

    • Hobbyist Tier. Any app with less than 50 vehicles connected never has to pay for DCX. These apps, whether built by hobbyists or just as tests for those looking for Product Market Fit can receive DCX for free.

    • Starter Tier.  $1,500 in credits for any developer over 50 cars. Need to do the short application. This covers 100 cars for a year.

    • Seed Tier. $15k in credits for a more thorough interview process for seed funded startups (have raised money.) This is to help give early stage companies additional runway to build their product and business. This covers 1,000 cars for a year. 

    • Growth Tier. $75k for apps generating more than $10k in MRR or $100k in ARR. This is to help subsidize businesses that are achieving success on further growth. This covers 5,000 cars for 1 year. 

  • Grant Requirements:

    • Developers should integrate DIMO with an existing application or new product. Grant will be awarded after the integration work is complete 

    • The applicant should be integrating “Login with DIMO” into an application that is novel in at least one of the following facets: Use Case (maintenance, insurance, social, game, AI, etc.) or Geography (ex: first of app of its use case app for European users.)

  • Minimum Acceptance Criteria: 

    • Existing DIMO users must be able to login to the new application and the application must make use of some data via the DIMO Telemetry API (or other endpoints.) 

    • Also acceptable: users can create a vehicle in the new app.

Description: For developers who launch apps/products built on DIMO, the DIMO Foundation will award retroactive grants in $DIMO.  The purpose of these grants is to provide application developers with further incentive to deepen their connection to DIMO. 

  • Amounts Available: 

    • $2,500 - $15,000

  • Grant Requirements: 

    • There is no application process and the Grants committee will use its discretion to award grants to community builders.

App Bounties

The committee would love to see the advent of some particular types of applications and has added a higher amount for certain projects. These will be awarded retroactively but developers are eligible for DCX credits. 

  • $20k for the first Vehicle NFT sharing “social network”

  • $20k for the first vehicle NFT customizer 

  • $20k for on chain car loan

  • $20k for trip tracking + receipts app

  • $20k for “Spotify Wrapped for your car”

DIMO On Base

As part of DIMO being built on Base, low-cost Ethereum L2 incubated by Coinbase, builders on DIMO as also eligible for Base's ecosystem incentives which include:

  • Opportunity for seed investment from Base Ecosystem Fund led by Coinbase Ventures

  • Eligible for OP Retroactive Goods Funding which distributed over $25M to projects built on Base's infrastructure in 2024.

  • DIMO will nominate you on your behalf to Base's retroactive builder grants program

Hardware Product Development (up to $25k)

Description: For hardware manufacturers interested in building hardware compatible with DIMO. 

  • Amount Available: Up to $20k, with 100% available after completion of a working prototype.

  • Grant Requirements:

    • In addition to the general hardware manufacturer requirements, which can be found here, the hardware should be differentiated in some way relative to existing DIMO hardware devices.

  • Minimum Acceptance Criteria: 

    • Data must be transmitted to DIMO via a working prototype of the device.

Data Integrators (up to $25k)

The current limited support for vehicles and data sources is a barrier to adoption for DIMO. By broadening the pool of vehicles and data sources, we can make DIMO more accessible to drivers and more valuable to app developers and data consumers.

With the advent of Open Connections within the DIMO Ecosystem, developers all over the world can now add methods for users to connect devices to DIMO. These new Connections could be new types of vehicle telematics connections or other complimentary data types, like data from EV Chargers, Video Files from dashcams, and more. 

Increasing the diversity of data available on DIMO increases what application developers can build, and thus the value that can be created within the DIMO Ecosystem.

Description: Similar to the option above, but if the applicant has not yet started development on the DIMO and may require a bit more funding to get started. 

  • Amount Available: Up to $25k,100% after completion.

  • Grant Requirement

    • Sufficiently differentiated data source. For example, the 3rd Connection that supports connectivity from Ford or a particular brand EV Charger might help the ecosystem, but is not worthy of a grant (however if used, it can still earn the Connection Node revenue.)

    • New types of data that compliment existing data are particularly useful.

  • Minimum Acceptance Criteria: 

    • WASM File

    • Frontend that DIMO apps can provide to users to handle a connection flow

Contribute to Dev Tools, Protocol, and Decentralizing DIMO 

As DIMO grows and continues to decentralize, we are working to have more developers contribute to the utility of the platform. The Core Team at Digital Infrastructure Inc. has been making it easier for developers to contribute, but there is still a burden of coordination with ongoing core development efforts. As such, the Core Team will periodically update the available efforts for community developers. 

Below are some currently available opportunities:

SDK more languages

  • Documentation

  • Vehicle Simulator

  • Command Line Interface (CLI)

  • Modular Plugins

Low code / no code connectors

Discretionary Grants

DIMO Ignite may also provide certain discretionary grants that contribute to decentralization provided that they are thoroughly scoped.