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Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun has unveiled a new investment arm called Pump Fund as it pivots away from its core memecoin focus.
The company said Pump Fund will debut with a $3 million hackathon backing up to 12 projects.
Each selected project will receive $250,000 at a valuation of $10 million, according to Pump.fun.
Pump.fun said the fund aims to align with projects over the long term and does not require them to be crypto-related.
The investment arm will also provide mentorship support from Pump.fun’s founders.
The move comes as trading volumes on Pump.fun have declined from their early 2025 peak.
Pump.fun said it will consider projects of all maturities, sectors and traction levels.
The firm said priority will be given to teams that ship products quickly and communicate openly.
“Aside from product and social traction, we’ll assess the long-term viability of the project,”
Pump.fun said.
The 30-day hackathon requires participants to create a token and share regular progress updates.
Market activity will determine which projects succeed, rather than traditional judges or venture capital panels.
“Instead of having to please judges or VCs for money, tokenising 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 added.
Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen said demand for strong founders has remained high despite market cycles.
“The number of trends in crypto over the past three years shows that the demand for good founders continues to be incredibly high,”
Alon Cohen said.
Cohen said users have increasingly supported new ideas by buying into early-stage token launches.
He added that instant liquidity has allowed projects to secure funding faster than traditional routes.
Trading volumes on Pump.fun peaked at $11.75 billion in January 2025, according to Token Terminal.
Monthly volumes have since declined, reaching $2.43 billion in December as memecoin interest cooled.