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Outlier Ventures, Midnight Foundation launch accelerator for privacy-enhancing tech

Thursday, May 29, 2025 — 15:05:58 (UTC)

London, UK – May 29th, 2025 – Outlier Ventures, the most active Web3 accelerator globally, today announced the launch of a new accelerator program in partnership with the Midnight Foundation to advance the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies in key sectors including decentralized identity and finance.

Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) are a class of advanced cryptographic and computational techniques that enable data to be shared, processed, or analyzed without exposing sensitive information. Recognized by organizations like Gartner and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), PETs are considered critical for building digital trust, enabling innovation, and ensuring compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.

"Although PETs have seen major progress at the infrastructure level, they remain largely untapped at the product level,” said Matt Law, Chief Commercial Officer at Outlier Ventures. “Most teams lack the tools, funding, or technical support to move beyond research or low-level integration. This program is designed to change that — backing founders who want to utilize PETs to develop real, usable features in consumer-facing and enterprise applications."

Through this strategic collaboration, Outlier Ventures and the Midnight Foundation are combining resources including capital, technical expertise, and guidance on developing decentralized solutions that align with global regulatory frameworks such as GDPR — a critical factor in enabling institutional adoption of decentralized infrastructure in regulated markets.

“Privacy is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s the foundation for real-world adoption. With Midnight’s cutting-edge advancements in confidential smart contracts, we’re giving founders a launchpad to build privacy-first apps that meet both user expectations and regulatory demands,” said Fahmi Syed, President at Midnight Foundation.

The program is specifically designed to help founders build confidently in a space where the technical complexity of PETs — and the lack of standards around privacy — often act as barriers to entry. By providing technical depth and real-world validation, the program aims to help unlock new categories of applications that can meet the privacy and compliance demands of users, institutions, and regulators alike.

The new track will support up to six teams building directly on the Midnight Network, a privacy-enhancing blockchain network that uses zero-knowledge cryptography and programmable smart contracts to overcome the limitations of traditional blockchains that expose all transaction data by default.

Successful applicants will work directly with Midnight’s engineering and cryptography experts, alongside Outlier’s team covering product, token design, and go-to-market strategy.

The PETs track joins Outlier Ventures’ Post Web Base Camp accelerator, which also includes programs in DeFi, AI, DePIN, and real-world assets, reflecting the firm’s ongoing mission to support the infrastructure and applications shaping the next evolution of the open web.

“Together, we’re supporting teams that see privacy not as a constraint, but as a catalyst for innovation. Outlier Ventures brings the network, momentum, and experience to help these ideas scale, and we’re excited to help turn breakthrough ideas in privacy into scalable, real-world products,” Law added.

For more information on the program, visit: outlierventures.io/article/pets-accelerator-web3-outlier-midnight/

To apply, visit: outlierventures.io/base-camp/post-web-application/

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About Outlier Ventures Founded in 2014, Outlier Ventures is the world's leading Web3 accelerator, with a renowned reputation as the go-to authority for Web3 founders, investors, and partners across its Base Camp accelerator program and Ascent token launch program. With a portfolio of over 350 global investments and a combined market value of over USD 11 billion, Outlier Ventures has helped raise USD 1 billion in seed funding. Outlier Ventures’ portfolio includes leading Web3 companies, including Biconomy, Boson Protocol, Brave, Cheqd, Cudos, DIA Data, Fetch.ai, Filecoin, IOTA, NEAR Protocol, Ocean Protocol, Root Network and XAI.

Learn more about our programs at outlierventures.io/base-camp/

About Midnight Foundation The Midnight Foundation is an organisation dedicated to advancing the development, adoption, and real-world impact of the Midnight network, the privacy-enhancing blockchain project developed by Shielded Technologies. Designed for confidential smart contracts, Midnight enables censorship-resistant yet compliant decentralised applications. It leverages zero-knowledge proofs and a cooperative tokenomics architecture- with NIGHT as the utility token and DUST as the shielded capacity resource- to deliver a powerful combination of privacy, security, and decentralization.

Learn more at midnight.foundation

Media Contacts press@outlierventures.io press@midnight.foundation

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Source: Company press release.

Categories: Partnership