Pump Fun Fund Launches $3M Hackathon: Market-Driven Startups

In a bid to evolve beyond its roots as a memecoin launchpad, Pump.fun has introduced the pump fun fund to support a broader range of startup innovation.

Pump Fund launch and $3 million hackathon structure

Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun has unveiled Pump Fund, a dedicated investment arm designed to back startup projects across multiple sectors, moving the platform decisively beyond pure memecoin creation.

The initiative kicks off with a Build in Public hackathon, a 30-day program that will distribute $3 million across 12 winning teams. Each selected project will secure $250,000 in funding at a $10 million valuation, giving founders significant initial runway.

Pump.fun emphasized that the new vehicle will align with projects over the long term and offer direct mentorship from its founders. Moreover, the company stressed that backed ventures do not need to be crypto-native, opening the door to startups at any maturity stage, vertical, or traction level.

That said, the design closely mirrors web3-native funding models, blending token-based participation with venture-style checks, as the platform looks to extend its brand beyond memecoins into wider tech entrepreneurship.

Market-driven selection and token-based participation

The hackathon departs from traditional venture capital contests where judges or VCs pick winners behind closed doors. Instead, Pump.fun will let the market play a central role in determining which projects rise to the top.

Participants must create a token for their project and retain at least 10% of its supply, ensuring founders maintain meaningful exposure to upside. Throughout the 30-day window, teams are expected to share regular public updates, demonstrating progress and strategy to potential backers.

The platform will evaluate teams on several criteria, including how quickly they ship usable products, how transparently they communicate roadmaps, and how much organic traction they can generate in a short timeframe.

However, Pump.fun also stated it will look at long-term project viability, not just short-term hype, attempting to distinguish sustainable ventures from purely speculative plays often seen on a Solana memecoin platform.

Founder demand and tokenized funding thesis

Co-founder Alon Cohen argued that demand for strong founders remains high among both active traders and long-horizon investors. He framed the hackathon structure as a way to surface such talent in real time.

According to Cohen, instant liquidity made possible by tokenization enables projects to receive capital directly from their users rather than relying solely on traditional venture firms. That said, the Pump Fund model still layers structured checks and mentorship on top of that market-driven approach.

This blend of token markets and curated support underpins the broader strategy behind the pump fun fund, as Pump.fun tries to turn speculative interest into long-term ecosystem development.

Trading volume decline and token performance

The launch of the investment arm comes against a challenging backdrop for the platform’s core business. Pump.fun’s monthly trading volume peaked at $11.75 billion in January 2025, roughly one year after the platform’s debut.

By December, that figure had fallen to $2.43 billion, underscoring a steep pump fun trading decline amid waning appetite for speculative assets such as memecoins during a difficult period for the broader crypto market.

The platform’s native PUMP token has also struggled. Since reaching an all-time high in September, PUMP has dropped roughly 70% to $0.0026, highlighting sustained pump fun token decline even as the company pushes into new product lines.

However, management appears to be betting that diversifying into startup investing and hackathon-led discovery can help offset cyclical downtrends in memecoin speculation and trading volumes.

Renewed activity and creator incentive overhaul

Despite the volume slowdown, Pump.fun has recently seen signs of renewed on-platform activity. Earlier this month, the exchange recorded a three-month high in daily token launches, surpassing 30,000 new tokens in a single day.

This surge followed the rollout of updated pump fun creator incentives, which adjusted how rewards are distributed to those launching and supporting tokens. Moreover, the platform continues to lean on its track record of high-velocity token creation.

Throughout 2024 and 2025, Pump.fun facilitated the launch of millions of tokens and generated hundreds of millions in fees. The company also raised over $1 billion within minutes when it introduced the PUMP token in July, cementing its status as a leading venue in the memecoin segment.

The Solana-based platform played a central role in driving the memecoin trend across 2024 and early 2025. That said, the new memecoin launchpad investment push suggests a deliberate shift toward a broader startup ecosystem, where market-driven funding, hackathon experimentation, and longer-term founder support are meant to coexist.

In summary, Pump.fun is using Pump Fund and its associated hackathon to reposition itself from a pure memecoin factory into a wider startup launchpad, while still leveraging its existing user base, on-chain liquidity, and token infrastructure.