Crypto: memecoin Platform Pump.fun Launches Investment Arm ‘pump Fund’
Pump Fund will kick off with a hackathon and back up to 12 projects at $250,000 each at a $10 million valuation.
Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun is spinning up a new investment arm aimed at backing promising startups, in its first significant pivot away from its memecoin roots.
Pump.fun said on Monday it was launching Pump Fund alongside a $3 million hackathon, which would fund 12 projects with $250,000 each at a $10 million valuation.
It added that the investment arm would be “aligning itself with projects long-term,” which do not need to be crypto-related, and that it would provide mentorship from Pump.fun founders.
The project comes as trading volumes on the Pump.fun have fallen from highs in early 2025, which was spurred by a frenzy of memecoin trading at the time.
Pump.fun said its new investment arm would fund projects of “all maturities, verticals, and traction” with a focus on teams that are “shipping quickly [and] openly communicating their plans.”
“Aside from product/social traction, we'll assess the long-term viability of the project,” it added.
The hackathon, which lasts for 30 days, sees participants create a token, share updates on their project and the market will act as the judge on whether the project is successful.
“Instead of having to please judges/VCs for money, tokenizing allows the market to become the judge,” Pump.fun said. “Your users are the ones that fund you by betting on you early.”
Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen said on X that the number of trends in crypto over the past three years “shows that the demand for good founders by traders and long-term allocators continues to be incredibly high, no matter the market conditions.”
Source: CoinTelegraph
