rewrite this title Sandeep Nailwal Announces the 2024 Cohort of Nailwal Fellows

The Nailwal Fellowship announces the seven highly technical Nailwal Fellows selected for the second cohort of the program, including an MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering, multiple PhD Cryptographers, a Stanford CS Researcher, and more.

December 6, 2024 | New York, NY

The Nailwal Fellowship is proud to announce the selection of the 2024 Nailwal Fellows, a distinguished group of visionary leaders chosen to shape the future of the web3 ecosystem. The Nailwal Fellowship, an initiative driven by the co-founder of Polygon, Sandeep Nailwal, is dedicated to recognizing and nurturing individuals committed to pioneering advancements in the web3 space.

Meet the 2024 Visionaries

After an unprecedented level of interest and a rigorous, multi-stage selection process spanning several months, the 2024 Nailwal Fellowship is thrilled to welcome its latest cohort of outstanding innovators:

Muriel Médard: The founder of Optimum and an esteemed MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering specializing in network coding, now focused on developing groundbreaking secure, trustless communication technologies.

Kathan Patel: Successful entrepreneur who built a commodities trading startup, an AI-driven freight platform, now creating Over Under, a prediction market for live streamers.

Lisa Grimm: Founder of Roux and a trailblazer at the intersection of cuisine and consumer applications as one of the earliest employees at Resy.  

Vanishree Rao: Cryptography PhD building Fermah, a groundbreaking protocol for zk proof generation at world scale.

Felix Meng: A Stanford Masters student building xTrace, a new model for cryptographically secure RAG-based artificial intelligence. 

Kaneki Ken: Former Rust engineer at Polygon Miden, now advancing STARK-based Layer 2 tech for Ethereum scalability.

Rotem Tsabary: A cryptography PhD with extensive experience building AI infrastructure at Google, now building Lattica AI leveraging FHE for private AI/ML.

Speaking on the caliber of Fellows in Cohort 2, Sandeep Nailwal, the Fellowship’s founder, remarked, “Simply put, this is the most gifted group of builders in one place that I have ever seen. The backgrounds and technical abilities of these founders is unparalleled, and I cannot wait to see the incredible innovations they will go on to achieve.”

Unmatched Fellowship Benefits

The Nailwal Fellowship equips each Fellow with funding and resources, empowering them to transition from web2 to full-time web3 development over a dedicated six-month period. This financial support aims to overcome the risks and challenges of leaving established roles at tech giants and pursuing independent projects in an uncertain market.

Fellows also gain exclusive access to Symbolic Capital’s robust suite of resources, including expert mentorship from industry leaders, hands-on technical support, and connections to a global network of founders, investors, and strategic partners. The program’s unique blend of guidance, community, and resources sets the stage for Fellows to innovate, prototype, and refine their web3 projects with confidence.

About The Nailwal Fellowship

The Nailwal Fellowship, founded by Sandeep Nailwal, is a program providing capital to the brightest minds in web3. Each Nailwal Fellow receives capital as well as access to Symbolic Capital’s resources and network in order to spend six months entirely focused on trying new ideas and building in web3.

Learn More

For more information about the Nailwal Fellowship and how it supports global innovators, visit nailwalfellowship.org.

Contact

Sam Lehman

Fellowship Director

[email protected]