GROWTH GRANT APPLICATION – SOLAIRE – TIER 2

#1

TERMS OF USE

I have read and understand the CONFLUX ECOSYSTEM GRANTS OVERVIEW, and determined that my proposal is best for the Growth Grants stream (YES).

I understand that the Conflux Growth Grants are subject to a No Sale Rule, and I have read the terms of this rule (YES).

I understand that I will be required to provide additional KYC information to the Conflux Foundation to receive this grant (YES).

I understand that I will be required to follow public grant reporting requirements (YES).

APPLICATION INTRODUCTION

Name of your project - Solaire

Are you an incorporated startup? - Yes, Delaware C Corp

Links to the project’s webpage, DApp, project social handles, and chat groups.
Website - https://www.mysolaire.xyz
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Solaire_Web3
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/mysolaire/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/solaire_official_/

What is your Conflux eSpace recipient wallet address for the grant?
cfx:aasr984nk1shag116xt31zu1djkcbkmrzj0e6nzafd

TEAM

Vivien Zhang - Founder & CEO - New York, USA
Everything with a focus on Product Vision & Business Development

Bio -
15 years of management experience in Merchandising and Marketing in Luxury Fashion at brands including Tiffany & Co. and Harry Winston. Previously generated over $50M in revenue building new business units and grew revenue 10X at a startup in 2 years. Imperial College London - MBA
Graduate of the Farfetch/Outlier Ventures Dream Assembly Base Camp Acclerator

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivien-j-zhang/

Raven Sun - CTO - Toronto, Canada
Everything tech-related including Product Development, Coding & Dev team management

Bio -
A serial entrepreneur who has built and led dev teams at a number of DeFi & GameFi projects.
Experienced 0-1 technical builder with expertise in Blockchain, AI and Cloud Computing. University of Toronto - BS in Computer Science

https://www.linkedin.com/in/changping-raven-sun-2411b915a/

TOTAL BUDGET AND FUNDING TIER

Grant Tier: Tier 2
Grant Size: $15K
Justification: Building the first EVM consumer wallet on Conflux with localization 1) Chinese translation, local user feature upgrade + WeChat plug-in; 2) onboarding new users into the Conflux ecosystem via local commerce activities; 3) bring existing non-Chinese users into the Chinese market and Conflux ecosystem

PROJECT INFORMATION

Overview:

Solaire provides the new Web3 commerce infrastructure to connect and automate the consumer sector across fashion, sports, entertainment and culture. The Solaire Consumer CRM Wallet infrastructure offers an AA MPC wallet for new users or provides the consumer layer on existing wallets (eg: meta-mask). The consumer functions includes the most prudent areas in retail and e-retailing, including product digital passport, sustainability, authenticity, community building, circularity and personalization/memorabilia.

User Base:

Our product is B2B2C with a SaaS B2B business model. We have onboarded 10+ SME brands across fashion and entertainment, and will soon expand into sports and CPG. Notable clients include BAYC, WOW, Vivienne Tam (fashion), Lil Durk (entertainment) & All Blacks (sports). For secondary trading, we will be providing white label API to secondary marketplaces.

User Growth:

Value Proposition -

  1. Web3 commerce infrastructure - providing interoperability by adding the consumer layer to existing wallets connecting Web2 and Web3 and consolidate wallets for users
  2. User-friendly - removing all Web3 frictions and providing the best user experience
  3. Business-savvy - creating the best on-chain commerce tool kit enabling brands/creators/IPs with revenue increase and better business intelligence
  4. Ecosystem - cultivating a complete commerce ecosystem on Web3

Go-to-market -

  1. Direct to brands - sports teams, fashion brands, entertainment IPs & CPG brands
  2. Partner with Marketing & Web3 advisories
  3. Integrate with upstream partners - authentication/digital passport/memorabilia companies
  4. Ecosystem partners - ticketing, loyalty platform integration

Competitive Landscap:

Arianee - a CRM wallet that provides authenticity and CRM functions for luxury fashion brands. It is a closed consumer platform that is only available to primary product owners, and there is no liquidity between wallets.

Solaire is an open infrastructure layer, where we not only work with existing wallets, but also compatible with existing protocols across various sectors ranging from fashion, sports, entertainment, art and CPG.

Technology:

AA MPC wallet running on EVM; phygital protocol that connects physical with digital; white label API & SDK capability; seamless eCommerce/POS integration; wallet-to-wallet secondary trading

Traction:

15+ brands onboarded with a number of enterprise clients the pipeline. See our instagram and twitter account for client announcement. Here is some of our work in the news. (Solaire’s former name is The Spot Room)

Faith Tribe on Yahoo News
Kaveras on Jing Daily
Solaire (The Spot Room) on Coindesk
Freeman Jewelry on NFT Evening

Stage of the project:
post-launch, seed stage. product v2.0 in the works.

ECOSYSTEM FIT

Solaire will provide the first EVM consumer wallet to support the commerce ecosystem, linking the east to the west. The wallet will connect product digital passport, social functions, personalization, ticketing, loyalty, POAP and resale, enabling more users to participate the Chinese commerce system on-chain.

Economic Benefit:

This grant will help to offset some of the development cost to build, integrate our wallet with the Conflux ecosystem, as well as the localization of our wallet interface (translation to Chinese, WeChat integration). It will also help to fund the first market activation with a well-known American fashion designer whose collaboration with a Chinese fashion brand will be launched in December, where we will enable new wallet creations to own/purchase products on Conflux.

GROWTH PROPOSAL

Grant Plan:

  1. Beta test the product with one client, exact client TBD as we are working with a number of potential clients, TBD who would be the first one to launch.
    Example of the launch - launch a phygital fashion collection where each item sold comes with an NFT. Solaire creates a wallet for each customer to receive and interact with the NFT for content and perks.

  2. Launch with a few pilot use cases ranging from fashion, media & CPG
    Potential clients include the following -

  • an international fashion brand with global outreach. Est. client base in China is 300K+
  • live event producer with 10K average attendants per event
  • Magazine publishers with 100K+ monthly distributions
  • Wine & Liquor clubs with monthly active members of 200+
  • Streetwear brands with est. client base of 100K+

Users Acquisition:

We will tap into our clients’ existing user base and bring them into Web3 seamlessly.

Proposal OKRs:

Objective 1 - beta test the product on Conflux with a pilot client
Objective 2 - best test with a few clients to prove different use cases
Objective 3 - identify/connect with Conflux ecosystem partners to onboard more users

ROADMAP

Milestone 1 - beta test with first client to launch a collection on Conflux with NFT - $10,000 (by December 2023)
Milestone 2 - identify/connect with Conflux ecosystem partners - $5,000 ( by 2024)

MAINTENANCE CONSIDERATIONS

We have an extensive expansion plan for the Chinese market in areas including wine & spirits, fashion, sports and entertainment. We will be cultivating a local wallet user base, connecting different areas of consumer activities, bridging east and west on EVM, and scale quickly.

2 Likes
#2

I find this grant to be both intriguing and significant. I have several questions regarding the proposal and technical details provided:

  1. It appears that this grant is specifically targeted at mainland China. Does this imply that the project is focused on core space?
  2. Could you please verify the accessibility of your website (https://mysolaire.xyz/)? I am unable to access it, even with a VPN connection.
  3. Obtaining qualifications for formal commercial events in China, particularly those related to fiat currency, can be quite complex. Specific qualifications must be applied for. Have the necessary preparations been made in this regard?

Regarding the technical details, it’s mentioned that this is an AA MPC wallet based on ERC-6551, with a protocol that connects physical goods with digital assets using ERC-6551. I believe this is an outstanding concept. From the current information, it seems that a chip may be bound to the physical goods.

  • The news indicates that there has been deployment on other chains. Where has this been deployed, and does it operate under the same logic?
  • Concerning the chip, will it contain a symmetric or asymmetric secret key for interaction? What is the anticipated lifespan of the chip?
  • It’s noted that support for the secondary market is planned. What is the mechanism for transferring digital NFTs and physical goods? Can they be transferred independently?
  • This is referred to as an AA wallet. Will it be compatible with ERC-4337, or does the term “AA” specifically refer to the AA introduced by ERC-6551?
  • How will the MPC component function?
  • Is the mentioned phygital protocol a reuse of existing protocols? How does the protocol operate? Will it be made public, or has it been audited?
  • Regarding the mentioned web3 commerce infrastructure, what actions will be taken, and in what format? How might a dApp integrate the wallet, or is integration unnecessary, requiring users to install a new browser plugin instead?

I hope these questions help clarify the proposal, and I look forward to your response.

2 Likes
#3

Thanks for the application @Vivien_Z . I have a some initial questions and suggestions.

Since growth grants are only available for projects already deployed on Conflux, I think it would be helpful to break your application into two seperate applications.

A) Milestone 1 is more appropriate for a technical grant, and B) would be great to expand on Milestone 2.

A)
To help us evaluate your wallet integration proposal please provide all technical information requested in the technical grant application template: TECHNICAL GRANTS APPLICATION TEMPLATE

B)
Milestone 2 would be the eligible for a growth grant after Milestone 1 is completed. Growth grants are best suited to help fund user growth experiments so would be great to learn more about your plan to attract users at Shanghai Fashion Week.

Some clarifying questions:

  • Beyond interface localization what is your marketing strategy during Shanghai Fashion week and in China broadly?
  • What other chains will you be deployed on and promoting in China and Asian markets?
1 Like
#4

Hi Darwin,

Please find our response below.

  1. It appears that this grant is specifically targeted at mainland China. Does this imply that the project is focused on core space?
    A: No, we are building on EVM, as we want to provide a consistent wallet experience for consumers in China and aboard, building that bridge connecting east and west.

  2. Could you please verify the accessibility of your website (https://mysolaire.xyz/ 2)? I am unable to access it, even with a VPN connection.
    A: We are currently building a new website, the temporary site is hosted at https://site.mysolaire.xyz/
    the domain (mysolaire.xyz) should redirect to the temporary site. Not sure why sometimes it doesn’t redirect automatically, apologies. We will have the new site up in the next few weeks.

  3. Obtaining qualifications for formal commercial events in China, particularly those related to fiat currency, can be quite complex. Specific qualifications must be applied for. Have the necessary preparations been made in this regard?
    A: We don’t host events. As a tech company, we only provide tech solutions for brands/clients whether it is for their ongoing operation or one-off events. The event mentioned is for an international fashion brand that are doing a show during Shanghai Fashion Week. They handle all the logistics and operations, while we just provide the tech solutions as part of the experience. Additionally, our wallet doesn’t handle payments. All transactions will happen on the client’s end, and we just deliver the on-chain collectibles in parallel.

Technical Questions - we will submit a separate technical grant application which should address most of your questions, but I’m posting the answers here for the questions you have asked.

  1. The news indicates that there has been deployment on other chains. Where has this been deployed, and does it operate under the same logic?
    A: Yes, we are on EVM chains, including Polygon and Aurora. As a wallet company, we provide multi-chain options so that our clients can choose which chain they want to use, so we can deploy the smart contract on that chain for them.

  2. Concerning the chip, will it contain a symmetric or asymmetric secret key for interaction? What is the anticipated lifespan of the chip?
    A: Typically, brands have their own chips and the secret key method varies based on the type of chips they use. We provide the software that can program the chips with the NFT content or a QR code to be printed onto the product.

  3. It’s noted that support for the secondary market is planned. What is the mechanism for transferring digital NFTs and physical goods? Can they be transferred independently?
    A: We have a protocol that binds the physical product with the matching NFT, and our protocol is physical-first. In order to receive the NFT, the buyer/recipient needs to have the physical product in hand. The NFT itself cannot be transferred independently. However, with 6551, there will be other assets under the phygital NFT, that can be tokenized and transferred as an NFT (it can be traced to the physical product, but not tied to it). This has not been built yet, but it’s in our roadmap.

  4. This is referred to as an AA wallet. Will it be compatible with ERC-4337, or does the term “AA” specifically refer to the AA introduced by ERC-6551?
    A: Yes, it is compatible with ERC-4337. AA is Account Abstract, meaning that we will pay for all the gas fees to create a seamless, Web2 experience for our wallet users. (most clarify will be provided in the technical application)

  5. How will the MPC component function?
    A: Will provide more info on that in the Technical Application.

  6. Is the mentioned phygital protocol a reuse of existing protocols? How does the protocol operate? Will it be made public, or has it been audited?
    A: No, we built our own phygital protocol. The protocol ensures that the physical product and NFT are bound together and are transferred together. In resale, we will have a smart contract escrow system that allows time for the physical product to ship and to resolve any disputes. The protocol is public via our API key and will soon be audited (after the next update).

  7. Regarding the mentioned web3 commerce infrastructure, what actions will be taken, and in what format? How might a dApp integrate the wallet, or is integration unnecessary, requiring users to install a new browser plugin instead?
    A: The consumer wallet can be created by anyone using their email or added as the consumer feature enhancer to any existing wallets (eg: metamask). Clients can integrate any of our partner programs that includes loyalty, community management, ticketing etc. to capture a 360 view of the user profile. Our wallet will be easy to integrate for any ecosystem partners (still building that). Any app will be able to integrate the wallet, not just dApp. For the consumers, they can create a wallet by logging into our site, installing a browser extension or downloading the app. (browser extension and app are still being built, web app is the only way to create a wallet right now).

1 Like
#5

  1. Beyond interface localization what is your marketing strategy during Shanghai Fashion week and in China broadly?
    A: We are B2B, the Shanghai Fashion Week event is an activation for a client of mine, where we are only supporting the tech. We have identified a few sectors to target in China, ranging from wine & spirits, fashion and sports/entertainment. As of now, we are already speaking to a number of wine & spirits brands. Our GTM will focus on B2B for now, so we don’t have a 2C marketing strategy at the moment.

  2. What other chains will you be deployed on and promoting in China and Asian markets?
    A: We don’t have much of a presence in China/ Asia right now, so we are looking for a primary chain to use in China/Asia. Our clients are mostly in North America and Europe at the moment.

#6

Hello @Vivien_Z,

The project is definitely intriging. Couple of my questions would be more focusing on the strategy end regarding Solaire expanding to Conflux Network. As you may know, we do have a strong market share in Chinese Web3 market.

Question 1: What’s your plan in the general expansion to the Chinese market? Are there any existing collaboration partners you’ve already in contact with?
Question 2: How well are you prepared for getting into the Chinese market? There are some credentials in getting Chinese Web3 users on board. Have you started looking into them and devote effort into it?

Looking forward into your comments and feedbacks.

1 Like
#7

Answer 1: We have a BD lead on the ground in China who has established a pipeline of potential clients across fashion, music, art and CPG. We have built a dynamic tool that can be utilized in many use cases. Our phase 1 plan is to build exemplary pilot use cases with identifiable clients/brands and also utilize our use cases in the U.S. and Europe to build credibility. We’d also like to work with Conflux to explore use cases and attract new or extend existing clientbases on the Conflux network. We are willing to work extensively with Conflux on the Chinese market and use Conflux our primary chain.

Answer 2: Our approach is not to target Web3 users, but leveraging Web3 tools to provide better user experiences across the various sectors. For example, any fashion consumers will not receive a digital receipt with each purchase that is delivered on-chain as an NFT. The NFT contains not only the receipt of the purchase, but also proves its authenticity, verifies ownership, provides material provenance/certifications, care instructions, as well as storytelling and marketing materials. The NFT becomes the channel of communication between the brand and the consumer.

The entire experience is Web2, with no requirement for seed phrases or gas fee. Therefore, our focus is to create value for brands to upgrade their product data infrastructure from cloud to blockchain, from data capture, increased customer loyalty and revenue. Although we are B2B2C, we do not need to acquire individual customers, brands’ existing customers are our users. We just need to focus on providing a good user experience.

2 Likes
#8

Hello Vivian,

It was super great meeting you today in hearing more updates from you. I do have some follow up questions after our meeting, especially on the new information you provided during the meeting.

  1. What is the structure of the wallet, is it custodial or non-custodial? Will you allow users to import their wallet? If so, how are they preventing users from using their wallet against compliancy?
  2. Secondary marketplace would potentially opens up a exponential growth of users. What’s your timeline on that?
  3. Are you planning on operating on multichain? If that’s the case, how are Conflux supporting the wallet operation?

Looking forward in hearing back from you.

1 Like
#9
  1. we have both custodial and non-custodial option. The non-custodial option also comes with social recovery. Users can import their wallets as well since we are also a wallet aggregator. What type of compliance are you referring to? I’m not aware of any wallet regulations, if it is regulated in China, I will have to look into it.
  2. Probably second half of 2024, as we need to test and prove the use case in the U.S. first. We will also need to identify brand partners in China to start building inventory.
  3. We are multichain outside of China. TBD on whether we will be multichain in China, it depends on the market demand and compliance. In theory, users shall not be aware of blockchain and therefore it shouldn’t matter to them which chain they are on.
1 Like
#10

UPDATED:

PROJECT INFORMATION

Overview:

Solaire provides the resale enablement and headless marketplace infrastructure for the retail sector across fashion, collectibles, art, consumer electronics and automobile. By enabling resale functions directly in finished goods, consumers are empowered with a secure peer-to-peer resale capability, while brands are rewarded with royalty and data.

User Base:

Our product is B2B2C. We partner with digital authentication companies to distribute our product to their brand clients. So far, we have partnered with 4 enterprise companies, onboarding $35M GMV / 1M users into our ecosystem.

User Growth:

Value Proposition -

Web3 recommerce infrastructure for Web2 users- our proprietary payment escrow system enables peer-to-peer resale of physical products (coupled with digital ID/NFT) on-chain. Solution can be white-labeled for any partners.

Sector-agnostic - our back-end infrastructure serves all sectors with resale demand. Especially in high volume sectors such as collectibles, consumer electronics and automobile parts.

GTM
Partnership with digital authentication companies to add value to their services. Our product allows their brand clients to monetize from the authentication solutions, generating recurring ROI.

Competitive Landscape:

Traditional resale marketplaces such as eBay and StockX. Solaire guarantees authenticity from the source and offers a much smoother user experience and lower fees.

Traditional resale enablement solutions such as Archive, Treet. They allow brands to host resale on their own website (not on blockchain), they are unable to track products post its first resale and sales that happen outside of the website. Also expensive for brands to take on the operation and logistics burden.

Technology:

AA MPC wallet running on EVM; wallet-to-wallet (peer-to-peer) resale suite which includes on-chain escrow system, logistics and dispute management. Everything is available white-labeled via API/SDK.

Traction:

9 enterprise authentication partners signed, bringing in a total of 2000+ brands.
US partners - Perks (sports collectibles), $35K GMV - 1000+ users
EU partners - Kezzler (fashion) $25M GMV - 50000+ users; Selinko (electronics) $20M GMV - 30000+ users
China - stealth $10M GMV - 200,000+ users

Stage of the project:
Product V2 launched in May 2024

#11

Hey Vivien,

Thank you for the update on the proposal.

Could you please share the evaluated results from your V1 product? Has your V2 already launched and is it fully functional? If so, could you share some performance data or insights from it?

Additionally, I’d like to understand the limited social activity and the relatively low follower base on X. Could you elaborate on this and share any plans to address it?

Lastly, could you clarify the current stage of the project? How does this affect the purpose and allocation of your proposed grant spending and budget?

Looking forward to your response!

#12

Hi CJ,

Yes, our MVP (V1) was launched in May with 1 client. We transacted $35K in GMV with 2000+ users in a few months. V2 will be launched in Q1 2025 with 3 enterprise clients. A reminder that we are a B2B2C platform, so we work with brands to launch their collection first, then we track items as they go through resale. Therefore, I capture performance on the B2B side first, the B2C data and feedback will kick in a little bit later.

Our unique B2B2C marketplace model allows us to tap into brands’ existing consumer base, so we don’t need to invest in heavy marketing to recruit users. Additionally, our product is designed for mainstream shoppers who are not the most active on X. Therefore, we are not spending our effort building followers on X. We do collaboration posts with brands through their apps and newsletters.

We have a fully functional product that is live right now with 1 collectibles company based in the U.S. In Q1 2025, we have a number of clients going live with us across Europe and the U.S.

What we are most excited about, is our activation in China next year. We have a number of clients lined up in China, starting with a public company in the gifting space. With our vision of building the 闲鱼 on-chain, we would like to partner with Conflux and deploy all our Chinese clients on Conflux. The grant funding from Conflux will be used primarily for our Chinese customization, including WeChat mini-program development, server change, translation and client onboarding. The client (brand) will be doing all the marketing and user acquisition, we simply need to provide the tech.

Hope this answers your question. Happy to jump on a call to provide more details if needed.

#13

Thank you for your replies. I’ve identified a few areas where further refinement could enhance the proposal:

  • Could you provide an update on your V1 EVM consumer wallet product? Has it undergone any audits so far?
  • Has the product successfully deployed the mechanism that binds the physical product with its corresponding NFT?
  • What are the differences between your V1 and V2?
  • What is your proposal focusing on?

Main Proposal Adjustments:
To improve clarity and alignment, it’s important to keep the primary section (top portion) of your proposal updated with the latest data and insights. This ensures alignment with feedback and comments, making it easier to evaluate the final proposal.

Given the numerous updates to your roadmap, milestone list, and budget breakdown since your previous submission, I suggest submitting a new proposal that reflects the current state of the project and its revised details including budget, roadmap, milestone list with its KPIs.

Budget Transparency and Growth Focus:
To strengthen your proposal, consider prioritizing budget allocations that directly contribute to project growth, such as user engagement, community incentives, and marketing efforts. These align more closely with the Foundation’s expectations and demonstrate a clear growth trajectory.

KPIs for Milestones:
Ensure each phase and sub-milestone includes specific, measurable KPIs to outline expected outcomes. Key metrics might include:

Performance-based metrics: Total Value Locked (TVL), transaction volumes, unique wallet addresses, partner integrations, or web traffic.
User growth metrics: Social media engagement, community expansion, and participation in activities such as AMAs or user campaigns.

Growth Milestones and Budget Breakdown:
Provide a detailed breakdown of growth milestones, including how grant resources will be allocated for each phase. Clearly link milestones to their KPIs, and outline the timeline and release schedule for grant funds. This approach will enhance transparency and facilitate effective tracking of progress.

Looking forward to your revised proposal.