Finally, after a long journey filled with hard work, careful consideration, and valuable insights, we are thrilled to announce the selected Deep Funding Community Hubs! However, before the long-awaited reveal, let’s take a moment to walk you through the journey and process the Events Circle undertook to reach this decision.

This was no easy task. We received more proposals than expected, not only in quantity but also in quality. Many compelling ideas, strong hubs, and capable teams made the selection process challenging. Our goal was to ensure fairness and diversity, maximizing the learning experience while helping different community hubs thrive.

The Vision Behind DF Community Hubs

The idea for DF Community Hubs emerged from the need to decentralize the growth of Deep Funding and its community. Regular Events Circle events could not effectively reach everyone due to differences in time zones, cultures, and areas of interest. While global online events serve an important role, Community Hubs allow people to come together based on shared interests, whether defined by geography, language, or specific topics like agriculture, feminism, or robotics.

Moreover, Community Hubs create growth opportunities in regions with strong AI development potential, ultimately expanding the Deep Funding Community and increasing contributions to beneficial AGI.

Evaluation Process and Proposal Metrics

With this goal in mind, we designed a structured evaluation process, ensuring each hub proposal was assessed fairly. We examined alignment with the Deep Funding mission, potential impact, team capability, cost-benefit ratio, and the overall strategy of each proposal.

We received 40 proposals, with the following geographical distribution:

• Africa: 15 proposals

• Asia: 7 proposals

• Europe, Latin America, North America: 2 proposals each

• Other proposals focused on specific topics without a defined geography.

Country-wise distribution:

• Nigeria led with 8 proposals.

• The USA, India, and China submitted 2 each.

• Ghana, Spain, and Thailand had 1 proposal each.

Topic-based proposals included:

• Robotics: 1 proposal

• Women-based hubs: 3 proposals

• Agrotech: 1 proposal

• Education: 1 proposal

• Real Estate: 1 proposal

To ensure objectivity, we created a structured review sheet to organize the most relevant information from each proposal. This review sheet held the most relevant information about each proposal and allowed for an easier comparison between proposals. Three team members independently evaluated each of the 40 proposals based on the following criteria:

• Impact: Contribution to Deep Funding’s growth, including potential proposers and contributors, both in terms of quality and quantity

• Feasibility: Viability of the plan, team experience, and execution capability.

• Value for Money: Justification of investment relative to deliverables.

• Sustainability: Likelihood of long-term continuity and ease of leadership transition.

• Deep Funding Strategy Alignment: Relevance to Deep Funding’s mission and diversity in outreach.

Each proposal was scored across these criteria, and additional information was requested from some teams for a more comprehensive assessment. After individual evaluations, each reviewer shortlisted their top 10 proposals. The team then deliberated to finalize the selection, ensuring diversity in hub types and operational strategies to allow for greater experimentation.

Announcing the Selected Community Hubs

We are proud to introduce the four hubs selected for this first iteration:

• OnchAIn Asia Hub

• Aistra EUDAI Hub – Decentralized AI for EU

• Africa Women in AI Community Hub

• AgroTech Community Hub

Given that this is an experimental initiative, we have initially limited the number of hubs. The Events Circle will focus on building effective processes and support systems to ensure these hubs grow successfully. If this model proves valuable in driving Deep Funding’s expansion, we hope to onboard more Hubs in the future.

Next Steps and Future Opportunities

To all applicants, we extend our deepest gratitude. Many high-quality proposals did not make it into this list, but there will be future RFPs and more opportunities to bring your community to life. In fact, in the future, once we have the capacity and the need to onboard more Hubs, we might take into consideration all these great proposals before starting a new RFP and reach out to check the availability of some of the non-funded proposers to start their Deep Funding Community Hub. In the Events Circle, we remain open to different strategies besides RFPs in order to Onboard Hubs, with the intent to maximize the impact of this initiative.

Future Community Hubs will be chosen based on uniqueness compared to existing Hubs, creativity in terms of plans and ideas, and taking into account the same selection criteria that played a crucial role for the evaluation of the currently selected Hubs. 

For those with strong convictions about the potential impact of their community, we encourage you to start independently. While we cannot provide immediate financial support, the Events Circle is available to offer guidance and know-how. Demonstrating your hub’s effectiveness in practice could strengthen your arguments for future funding opportunities or even open the door to a direct invitation to become a Community Hub if you’re having a very positive impact on the growth of Deep Funding.

Additionally, Deep Funding will continue to launch new RFPs, rounds, and opportunities. Stay tuned, and keep contributing with your incredible ideas!