Cardano x Draper Dragon: Orion Fund
The Draper Dragon Orion Fund, L.P. (“Orion Fund”), managed by Draper Dragon Orion GP, LLC (“General Partner” or “GP”), is proposed as a multi-year, tranche-based ecosystem investment fund designed to support Cardano-native and Cardano-integrated companies, grow on-chain usage, and return capital to the Cardano Treasury (“Treasury”) over time. Importantly, the Orion Fund is structured so that Treasury exposure is incremental, capped, and fully governed. This proposal (“Proposal”) asks the Cardano community (“Community”) to vote only on the first Treasury withdrawal tranche of **ADA 50M,** which is approximately **$15M USD** (“Tranche One”), calculated using an assumed ADA price of $0.30, to launch the Orion Fund. Net proceeds from the direct investments made with a majority of the Treasury withdrawal contribution to the Orion Fund will be returned to the Treasury in accordance with the repayment schedule detailed in this Proposal.
Reasoning
Written after the vote was cast
What this asks for, and from whom
Draper Dragon asked for up to 50,000,000 ADA for the Orion Fund, a multi-year tranche-based venture fund investing in Cardano-native and Cardano-integrated companies, structured so treasury exposure is incremental, capped, and governed, with capital returning to the treasury over time.
What would have to be true for this to be a good use of treasury funds
Cardano does not have a capital problem in its protocol, it has a capital problem in its application layer. Builders leave for ecosystems where funding exists. A real venture fund with a real firm attached, run by people who do this professionally, addresses the gap I complain about constantly: great tech, no applications, no users.
What specifically concerns me
Fifty million ADA is enormous and handing treasury money to a venture fund is exactly the kind of thing that goes badly when structured on trust. What earned my yes is the structure. Tranche-based rather than lump sum, capped exposure, governed release, and capital returning to the treasury over time. I have said repeatedly that I favor proposals which return their raise to the treasury once profitable, and this is the largest one built that way.
What I am asking of the proposer if this passes
It was enacted. Publish the portfolio and the returns, honestly, including the failures. A venture fund spending community money owes the community the same reporting a limited partner would demand. And do not let tranche gates become rubber stamps.