NEW YORK, NY – March 16, 2023 – In Wolf’s Clothing (“Wolf”), the first-ever startup accelerator dedicated to Lightning, today announced that it has selected eight teams for its inaugural cohort, Wolfpack 1. The program received more than 100 applications from teams representing 36 countries.

Despite an ongoing slowdown in many parts of the “crypto” industry, Bitcoin and the Lightning Network are experiencing tremendous growth. The Lightning Network’s capacity is at an all-time high, up 63% since the beginning of 2022, and innovation is gathering momentum: the introduction of Bitcoin Ordinals has seen more than 200,000 Inscriptions on the blockchain in less than two months, and the explosive growth of Nostr continues with more than 2 million pubkeys writing events.

As Wolf heads towards the start of its first cohort in April, fully in-person in NYC, the company announced a world-class list of committed investors and mentors, including some of the most influential investors and operating companies in Bitcoin. Participants include Allen Farrington, Ego Death Capital, Fulgur Ventures, Hivemind Ventures, Kingsway Capital, NYDIG, Stone Ridge Holdings Group, Urim Capital, and others.

“The volume and quality of applications to Wolf has been simply incredible,“ said Kelly Brewster, CEO of Wolf. “The definition of what it means to ‘build on Bitcoin’ is evolving, and across the globe teams are launching exciting products on top of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network that will have a meaningful impact. From true ‘decentralized finance’, to infrastructure, social media, payments and more, the teams joining Wolf are moving Bitcoin forward across a wide variety of frontiers.”

Wolf’s accelerator program is designed to help early-stage startups achieve product-market fit, develop their brand, secure critical early-stage funding, and grow businesses that fuel the global adoption of Bitcoin.The companies accepted to Wolf’s inaugural cohort, include teams working on topics such as: