STF invests in Fedify

After Fedify received funding from Ghost last year, I was able to work on the project full-time for a while. Even after the contract ended, Ghost continued to provide some sponsorship through Open Collective, though not enough to work on Fedify exclusively. Ghost's CEO suggested I look for more stable funding sources, which led me to apply to various foundation-run investment programs this spring.

NLnet

My first application was to NLnet. They have a strong interest in the fediverse and run a considerably large fund. More importantly, several ActivityPub-related open source developers I know had recommended them.

Unfortunately, my NLnet application was rejected. I later learned that projects have a lower chance of acceptance unless at least one maintainer is an European citizen. Of course, my application might simply have been inadequate.

I submitted the application in late January and received the rejection in mid-May. By then, my Ghost contract had ended and I was unemployed. Without income, I needed to either find a job or secure other funding.

Sovereign Tech Fund

Next, I applied to the Sovereign Tech Fund, an open source investment fund operated by the Sovereign Tech Agency. The STF primarily invests in foundational open source projects that are essential for developing other software or enabling digital networking. Their portfolio includes projects like Servo, systemd, Babel, FreeBSD, Samba, GNOME, and FFmpeg.

Already discouraged by the NLnet rejection, my confidence was low. Still, I rallied and meticulously prepared my application. Looking back at my emails, I apparently applied to the Sovereign Tech Fund the same day I received the NLnet rejection.

Again, the response took quite a while. Living on savings without income, I grew increasingly anxious as two months passed without word. I was almost certain it wouldn't work out, so I started job hunting as well. However, having spent the previous year working full-time on open source had been such a rewarding experience that I couldn't fully commit to the job search.

Fortunately, I received a response in early August—and surprisingly, the STF had selected Fedify for investment! The next two months flew by exchanging paperwork via email. Finally, yesterday, we officially kicked off Fedify's work under the STF program. I'll now receive funding as I complete the milestones I outlined in my application. The total investment is €192,000, with all milestones due by the end of next year.

Details about the STF's investment in Fedify are available on the Sovereign Tech Agency website, and the milestone roadmap is outlined in the Fedify project announcement.

Interestingly, since the Sovereign Tech Agency's funding comes from Germany, an ex-ante about the Fedify project investment appeared on a European Union website.

Reflections

Through this experience of seeking funding for Fedify, I couldn't help but wish Korea had public funds that invest in open source projects. I felt this particularly strongly when NLnet rejected my application. While I was fortunate to receive investment from the STF, which invests in open source projects regardless of nationality, having a program like the STF in Korea from the start would have made things much easier. It would also give many Korean open source developers the opportunity to dedicate themselves to their projects.

Additionally, since I'm currently Fedify's sole maintainer, I'm receiving these funds alone. My hope is to bring on co-maintainers before I need to seek funding again at the end of next year, so we can work together on this open source project full-time.