By Km Fazi 
Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun is making its first major move beyond its memecoin-focused origins by launching a new investment arm designed to support promising early-stage startups.
On Monday, Pump.fun announced the creation of Pump Fund, alongside a $3 million hackathon initiative that will fund 12 selected projects. Each winning team will receive $250,000 in funding at a $10 million valuation, marking a strategic pivot toward long-term project development.
Pump Fund Targets Long-Term Startup Growth
According to Pump.fun, the newly launched Pump Fund will back projects across all stages, industries, and traction levels, with no requirement for teams to be crypto-native. The fund aims to align itself with founders over the long term while offering hands-on mentorship from Pump.fun’s founding team.
The company emphasized that it is seeking teams that are shipping products quickly, communicating transparently, and demonstrating sustainable long-term potential.
“Beyond product and social traction, we’ll be evaluating the long-term viability of each project,” Pump.fun stated.
30-Day Hackathon Lets the Market Decide
As part of the launch, Pump.fun introduced a 30-day hackathon where participants are required to:
- Create a token
- Share regular project updates
- Allow the market to evaluate and fund the project organically
Instead of traditional venture capital judges, users and traders act as the decision-makers.
“Tokenization allows the market to become the judge,” Pump.fun explained. “Your users fund you by betting on you early, rather than pitching to VCs behind closed doors.”
Demand for Strong Founders Remains High
Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen highlighted on X that despite market fluctuations, demand for talented founders remains strong.
“The number of crypto trends over the past three years proves that demand for good founders is incredibly high, regardless of market conditions,” Cohen said.
He noted that users have increasingly embraced early-stage token launches, driven by excitement around fresh ideas and the opportunity to invest early. According to Cohen, millions of participants could become both users and investors when liquidity is instantly available.
This environment, he added, helped spark a wave of AI-related crypto projects, demonstrating how powerful early-stage tokenization could become for builders and traders alike.
Pump.fun Trading Volumes Decline From 2025 Peak
The launch of Pump Fund comes as Pump.fun’s trading volumes have declined from their all-time highs in late 2024 and early 2025.
According to data from Token Terminal, Pump.fun reached a record $11.75 billion in monthly trading volume in January 2025, just one year after the platform’s launch. Since then, volumes have steadily decreased.
By December, monthly trading activity had dropped to $2.43 billion, as speculative assets like memecoins lost popularity amid broader market volatility.
Despite the downturn, Pump.fun’s move into long-term startup funding signals a strategic effort to diversify beyond memecoin speculation and position itself as a broader player in early-stage innovation.