# History - deep dive

#### **Inception**

As early Hedera community members and builders, we’ve been looking for ways to continue building up the Hedera ecosystem. The birth of the HBAR Foundation was a sign of the incentives brought on to support further development on Hedera and inspired us to to fulfil our grand vision for a disruptive ecosystem enabling tool for supporting and launching Hedera native projects & applications. September 2021 marking the birth of HeadStarter as a Launchpad and Accelerator of the Hedera Hashgraph ecosystem.

We couldn’t have been more flattered by the keen interest and plaudits for our project (only a concept at that time) at the Agora Blockchain summit. We won first runner up in a contest judged by an esteemed set of expert VC investors.

Reference: [https://twitter.com/AgoraGBC/status/1460940222565335042?t=IiilC8jS2FP\_Nv0jaS9vtA\&s=19 ](<https://twitter.com/AgoraGBC/status/1460940222565335042?t=IiilC8jS2FP_Nv0jaS9vtA\&s=19 >)

<figure><img src="/files/mHRJjmVSbCff1Iu3p5ou" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Emergence from Stealth**

Our presence at the AIBC Summit in Dubai was met with a warm reception from the Hedera community, leading to numerous partnerships and collaborations. Our vision and achievements were showcased to a global audience, helping to position HeadStarter as a key player in the Hedera ecosystem. You can find some of our featurings here:

[*https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBkBIgVA60nPB69lqFzHLTIJebB1iaMgf*](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBkBIgVA60nPB69lqFzHLTIJebB1iaMgf)

<figure><img src="/files/v51yR8W2PZfQVfbbp5TV" alt=""><figcaption><p>HeadStarter x Hedera Booth at AIBC Dubai 2022</p></figcaption></figure>

**BuiDLing**

All this tim&#x65;**,** we’ve been working in the shadows with one clear goal in mind, releasing a secure and reliable Launchpad platform that pushes the boundaries of crowdfunding and pioneers DeFi in the Hedera Ecosystem.

First we needed to build a supporting infrastructural framework, we built Venin JS SDK library(Rebranded from Strato)  for internal use but open-sourced it to the world:&#x20;

{% embed url="<https://hedera.com/blog/meet-venin-a-concise-yet-powerful-sdk-alternative-for-js-devs>" %}

<https://venin.buidlerlabs.com/>

<figure><img src="/files/TjeEhj7SxOPIhw0rgwxn" alt=""><figcaption><p>Venin JS - early Hedera dev pillar</p></figcaption></figure>

#### **Hedera22 Hackathon**

As part of our commitment to the community, we sponsored the community support challenge at the Hedera22 hackathon with a $5,000 bounty. The hackathon attracted significant interest, and we eagerly anticipated the innovative tools and solutions developed by participants.

<figure><img src="/files/sgw57DeoEDLOIRyWxR2q" alt=""><figcaption><p>Hedera 22 hackathon Partners</p></figcaption></figure>

**Trailblazing Hedera DeFi**

Following the launch of Hedera Smart Contracts 2.0 and Stader's $HBARX liquid staking, HeadStarter completed the first Hedera smart contract audit with Hacken, achieving top reviews.

{% embed url="<https://hacken.io/audits/headstarter/>" %}
Hacken Audit
{% endembed %}

<figure><img src="/files/NVz3ZAqQKC9l7mzeQxg5" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Partnership announcements & HBAR Foundation**

With multiple valued ecosystem partnerships, HeadStarter announced a resounding feature together with the HBAR Foundation as grantee and partner:

{% embed url="<https://www.hbarfoundation.org/blog-post/headstarter-launches-on-hedera-with-the-hbar-foundations-support-2>" %}

**The HeadStarter $HST Token IDO & TGE**

Onboarding early Hedera community to HeadStarter and accommodating them to DeFi and Smart contracts required proposing multiple IDO & INO events.

The HeadStarter INO features a significant innovation through the burnable utility NFTs of 4 rarities: Bronze, Silver, Gold & Exclusive.

There have been 2 rounds of Pre-Liquidity IDOs with the **HeadStarter Main Round IDO featuring the TGE price of the** $HST Token at 0.01$ and final swap ratio: **0.16522917** $HBAR = 1 $HST.&#x20;

HeadStarter Token Market Capitalization at TGE < 450,000 USD.

**HashGraph DeFi Alliance & Hedera DeFi OGs Airdrops campaign**&#x20;

Along with co-founders SaucerSwap & Stader Labs - The Hashgraph DeFi Alliance aims to connect, collaborate, and contribute to a sustainable  DeFi ecosystem on Hedera. DeFi unlocks liquidity for inaccessible products and services, and the HDA drives global DeFi adoption through a trusted platform. The HDA offers guidance, support, and impactful initiatives to nurture thought leadership and meaningful solutions for real-world cases.

Publicly open-source contributions of the alliance can be found here:\
<https://github.com/hashgraph/hashgraph-defi-alliance>

<figure><img src="/files/Y47tSbVB3jGA5bVVDkOh" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

The decision to perform the biggest airdrop on Hedera at the time was in line with our mission of enabling the Hedera Ecosystem and palpably seeing higher numbers in: mainnet accounts, projects, transactions & TVL (total value locked).\
The aidrop campaign totaled a >**$40,000** distribution of **$HST** tokens to **Hedera DeFi OGs:**

*- Participants in Stader V1 for minimum 500HBAR that still held 500 HBARX +*\
\&#xNAN;*- Holders of Saucerswap NFTs —* PLANCK EPOCH COLLECTIBLES *across 4 tiers.*

<figure><img src="/files/Sl5I9CdR5hPk9pwEVdfa" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**$HST on Exchanges**

The first listing for HeadStarter was on the **BitMart Exchange** CEX for our primary listing, as the largest exchange supporting Hedera native tokens at the time, accessible to a wide geography of users, including USA. The following trading pair is be available: **HST/USDT:**&#x20;

{% embed url="<https://www.bitmart.com/trade/en-US?layout=pro&symbol=HST_USDT>" %}

**SaucerSwap Listing & Farms**

With the emergence of Sauceswap as the premier DEX and their go-live on Hedera Mainnet, HeadStarter was features with 2 pools: $HST-$HBAR & $HST-USDC. These pools were awarded early $SAUCE farming incentives.

The two pools have consistently lead HTS DEX liquidity as non-DEX tokens with ATHs of 1.4M in TVL.&#x20;

<figure><img src="/files/zKdDNjjDEsiDLO1uGCLm" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Featuring early Hedera Projects at events & to investors**

HeadStarter has continued to showcase the leading ecosystem project at various prestigious events around the world:

1. Agora Blockchain Congress - Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 2022

* Karate Combat&#x20;
  * $KARATE went on to raise a $18 million funding round led by BITKRAFT Ventures, with additional participation from Delphi Digital, The Operating Group, Alpha Wave Global, Hashkey, Lattice, M13, Santiago R Santos, RookieXBT and others.
* Heliswap&#x20;
  * The $HELI token is the utility token of the 3rd biggest DEX on Hedera, brainchild of Mantra DAO & Limechain

2. AIBC Asia - Manila, Philippines, 19-22 July 2023

* [Astra Nova ](https://astranova.world/)- Hedera GameFi project
* [Earthlings](https://www.earthlings.land/) - Hedera GameFi & Metaverse Projects
* [Legends of the Past](https://www.legendsofthepast.gg/) - Hedera GameFi Project
* Web23 - Hedera WEB3 domains projects

3. Cryptobuidler’s Pitch Day 4 (powered by HeadStarter) - Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 2023

* [Earthlings](https://www.earthlings.land/) - Hedera GameFi & Metaverse Projects
* Eleatek - On-chain data&#x20;
* [Legends of the Past](https://www.legendsofthepast.gg/) - Hedera GameFi Project
* Sphera World - Sports collectables
* Tomas.Finance - Institutional Web3 investments super-dApp

4. Hedera’s Growing Ecosystem: Innovations in Distributed Ledger Technology - Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 8 Dec 2023<br>
5. [Agora Blockchain Congress - Dubai, United Arab Emirates 11-12 December 2023](https://12th.gbc-uae.com/)

* [Earthlings](https://www.earthlings.land/) - Hedera GameFi & Metaverse Projects
* [Legends of the Past](https://www.legendsofthepast.gg/) - Hedera GameFi Project
* [Neuron Network](https://www.neuron.world/) - DePin
* [Tomas.Finance](https://tomas.finance) - Institutional Web3 investments super-dApp

<br>


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