Summary of Glue's Capital Raising Efforts

Initial Capital Raise

Glue's first capital raise concluded in early 2022, marking a significant milestone in the development of our decentralised financial ecosystem. This initial round was spearheaded by the two founders, each contributing $500,000 at the same terms as all other contributors in the round. In addition to the founders, including SnapShot, a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), approximately 20 high-net-worth individuals, mostly YPO members, participated. They collectively contributed an additional $1.5 million, bringing the total capital raised to about $2.5 million. The largest contribution besides the founders was $250,000, hence, there are no seed stage whales. The terms of this initial fundraising round were straightforward: contributors received a 30% discount on the price of tokens in the subsequent fundraising round. The expectation at the time was that the next round would occur relatively soon and would follow a more traditional pricing structure. However, market conditions, particularly the onset of a bear market, influenced the timing and structure of the subsequent round, which ultimately took the form of a Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP).

While the founders contributed significantly to the initial capital raise, they also received founder tokens as recognition for their work in establishing the network. The specifics of these founder tokens will be detailed later in this document and are at different terms than the seed tokens.

An important aspect of our capital-raising strategy is the absence of lockups for the initial contributors. We believe in promoting free and fair trading of tokens without the constraints of massive lockup cliffs. Lockup periods often lead to market distortions and can easily be circumvented through mechanisms such as short positions, rendering them ineffective and frequently misleading. By avoiding lockups, we aim to create a more transparent and equitable environment, allowing market forces to operate naturally and efficiently. This is of course only possible because we didn’t raise huge amounts of money early at discounts so large that it would imperil the entire project as many others did.

Second Capital Raise

The second round of capital raising was conducted in April 2024. As the crypto market began to heat up, the founders decided that an LBP would be an ideal mechanism for a bridge round to fund expenditures before the main token-generating event. Despite its name, Glue did not use the LBP to bootstrap liquidity. Instead, we utilised the Fjord Foundry platform to conduct the LBP to raise capital. This mechanism was chosen for its openness, fairness, and transparency, ensuring that everyone had equal access and terms, with no preferences or special deals.

Over 300 individuals participated in this round, contributing a total of $2.5 million worth of ETH. The pool was closed early once our fundraising goal was met. The highest price paid during this LBP was $1.447 per token. This approach ensured a broad distribution of tokens and avoided the pitfalls of large, concentrated holdings by a few entities, aligning with our goal of promoting a decentralised and community-driven ecosystem.