<![CDATA[Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡]]>Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡

It's tempting to write a classic "woohoo, more funds, let's celebrate" post. 19.000.000€ is more money than my brain can comprehend, and I've been working as a funder for a while.

It's a lot.

πŸ”½

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/6cd4ea82-6bb6-414e-98ae-e78202e1adf5/today-we-@prototypefund-had-the-pleasure-of-announcing-a-new-expansion-to-our-funding-program-with-two-new-funding-lines-and-19-million-for-foss-projectsRSS for NodeThu, 20 Aug 2026 13:51:15 GMTSat, 15 Aug 2026 12:44:38 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:51:33 GMT]]>@n0toose Of course. Ping me tomorrow.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117100556699385166https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117100556699385166Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:51:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:47:42 GMT]]>@yetzt @ekaitz_zarraga @shiro @PrototypeFund @janneke@mastodon.social
Hehe, if only our community was that large!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://todon.nl/users/janneke/statuses/117100541570347716https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://todon.nl/users/janneke/statuses/117100541570347716Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:47:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:43:28 GMT]]>@shiro Hey there, would love to have a chat tomorrow if you're all up for it πŸ™‚

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/n0toose/statuses/117100524911436154https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/n0toose/statuses/117100524911436154Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:43:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:30:30 GMT]]>@sabrinkmann @NGIZero Different funds have different grant sizes, there’s no norm for funds πŸ™‚

We used to do 50k grants but when you split them between teams of 4 over 6 months, that’s not a lot of working hours per person.

100k works better for how we fund and who we fund, so we adapted.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117100473904902156https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117100473904902156Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:30:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:15:45 GMT]]>@cdarwin here's the unrolled thread: https://mastoreader.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fc.im%2F%40cdarwin%2F117100415507021148

Next time, kindly set the visibility to 'Mentioned people only' and mention only me (@mastoreaderio). This ensures we avoid spamming others' timelines and threads unless you intend for others to see the unrolled thread link as well.

Thank you!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mastoreaderio/statuses/117100415893235748https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mastoreaderio/statuses/117100415893235748Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:15:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:15:39 GMT]]>@shiro
I can't wait to read your proposals
@mastoreaderio unroll please

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://c.im/users/cdarwin/statuses/117100415507021148https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://c.im/users/cdarwin/statuses/117100415507021148Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:15:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:14:39 GMT]]>@janneke @ekaitz_zarraga @shiro @PrototypeFund @janneke when i doubt, get a JΓΌrgen or a Dieter.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.yetzt.me/users/yetzt/statuses/01M0338D4JPAD0HFPMWTB3BA9Mhttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.yetzt.me/users/yetzt/statuses/01M0338D4JPAD0HFPMWTB3BA9MSat, 15 Aug 2026 16:14:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:03:32 GMT]]>@shiro @PrototypeFund Fantastic news! I like everything about this – a funding track for people new(er) to programming (even with the possibility of 10% mentoring! :O); a track to build alternatives to big tech; and of course so much more room for new projects overall!

Thanks for making this happen! Pretty epic!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/blinry/statuses/117100367851589698https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/blinry/statuses/117100367851589698Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:03:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:02:17 GMT]]>@shiro Thank you for your work! That sounds really good!
Is there a reason why the grant is for 100,000€? I'm just wondering because the @NGIZero grant maximum is for 50,000€, and I imagine there's a reason for this difference.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/sabrinkmann/statuses/117100362925110558https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/sabrinkmann/statuses/117100362925110558Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:02:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 14:40:26 GMT]]>@shiro I never thought I would say this:
Danke Doro BΓ€r!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://freiburg.social/users/noclip/statuses/117100041098768696https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://freiburg.social/users/noclip/statuses/117100041098768696Sat, 15 Aug 2026 14:40:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 14:01:51 GMT]]>@shiro@chaos.social Hey, thanks!!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://donotsta.re/objects/3634e294-a441-4e34-a11b-f247410e520ehttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://donotsta.re/objects/3634e294-a441-4e34-a11b-f247410e520eSat, 15 Aug 2026 14:01:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:56:17 GMT]]>@shiro @PrototypeFund This is great. Now please make it condition that no LLM driven projects will be included.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/lproven/statuses/117099867531309018https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/lproven/statuses/117099867531309018Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:56:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:46:11 GMT]]>@ekaitz_zarraga @shiro @PrototypeFund @janneke@mastodon.social
We should ask Stefan, I believe he's German.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://todon.nl/users/janneke/statuses/117099827818875966https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://todon.nl/users/janneke/statuses/117099827818875966Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:46:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:41:29 GMT]]>@ekaitz_zarraga @PrototypeFund @janneke We can fund teams only if one person at least resides in Germany

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099809302417322https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099809302417322Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:41:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:39:13 GMT]]>@shiro @PrototypeFund @janneke We probably will!
We are a fundamental project for a secure and trustable software supply chain.

But we don't have any team member currently living in Germany. πŸ™‚

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/ekaitz_zarraga/statuses/117099800406856219https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/ekaitz_zarraga/statuses/117099800406856219Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:39:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:35:56 GMT]]>@ekaitz_zarraga @PrototypeFund @janneke That’s a bit vague. Send us a bit more info at info@prototypefund.de and we’ll reply!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099787494942642https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099787494942642Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:35:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:34:20 GMT]]>@shiro @PrototypeFund @janneke Does GNU Mes fit this? we should try!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/ekaitz_zarraga/statuses/117099781173169590https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/ekaitz_zarraga/statuses/117099781173169590Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:34:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:52:24 GMT]]>Btw: If you're at and missed our talk - we're here, say hi πŸ‘‹

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099616290021121https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099616290021121Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:52:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:49:43 GMT]]>I can't wait to stand by the side of all the projects we'll be funding over the two years, I can't wait to read your proposals for our new funding tracks.

If you haven't checked out what's new yet, you can do so here: https://www.prototypefund.de/en/blog/ptf-3-0

πŸ“… PS: We turn 10 next year. Want to celebrate with us? Save the date, 11.06.27, Berlin.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099605753109803https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099605753109803Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:49:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:49:16 GMT]]>That said: 19 million € for FOSS β€” woohoo πŸ₯³ ! The past few months have been a wild ride, and it's incredible to see this upgraded version of Prototype Fund come to life so quickly. We couldn't have done it without the fantastic support of Bundesministerium fΓΌr Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt, our wonderful colleagues at VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, our mother ship @okfde and, of course, every single member of Team @PrototypeFund (best team ever 🩷).

⏬

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099603994475164https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099603994475164Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:49:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:48:15 GMT]]>I can confidently say that a FOSS world with @PrototypeFund is better than a world without it β€” but Prototype Fund alone won't save the FOSS world.

So, while we celebrate more funding, we should also start thinking about where the next 19 million €, ideally with a few more zeros added, will come from. Let's urge funders and public institutions, not only in Germany, to follow the example set by BMFTR in funding those who build technology for actual people.

⏬

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099600016264576https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099600016264576Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:48:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:47:41 GMT]]>They've taken risks with us, followed us on paths far from traditional state funding methods and encouraged us to explore ideas we didn't even dare to dream of.

With @PrototypeFund BMFTR has made it possible to create a blueprint for other institutions that want to fund technology for civil society. Almost 10 years later, we have demonstrated that the model works.

⏬

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099597761857344https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099597761857344Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:47:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:47:03 GMT]]>We are incredibly lucky to work with one of the few public institutions that have decided to invest in technologies built by people and for people. With our program, the Bundesministerium fΓΌr Forschung, Technologie & Raumfahrt has been paving the way to more funding for FOSS communities for almost 10 years. They haven't just provided funds; they've also supported us in experimenting with ways to build better funding structures.

⏬

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099595244461467https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/shiro/statuses/117099595244461467Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:47:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Today, we @PrototypeFund had the pleasure of announcing a new expansion to our funding program, with two new funding lines and 19 million € for FOSS projects πŸŽ‡ on Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:46:42 GMT]]>@shiro πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘ Marie, you rock πŸ‘

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.libre-entreprise.com/users/lutindiscret/statuses/117099593916584511https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.libre-entreprise.com/users/lutindiscret/statuses/117099593916584511Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:46:42 GMT