Curation criteria.
Gnosis Forge is a curated funding portal — not a marketplace. Every submission is reviewed by domain experts before it's listed. This page is the explicit rubric. If your project meets these criteria you have a real shot. If it doesn't, we tell you why and how to fix it.
What we look for
Every submission is scored against five dimensions. A passing score in all five is required for listing. A category score of 4/10 or lower on any single dimension is an automatic rejection regardless of other scores.
Genuinely new — not another iteration of a category winner. Patent-adjacent, novel primary research, or a structural change to how a problem is solved. Phone cases, smart water bottles, and 12th-generation e-scooters do not qualify.
Working prototype, published research, or a credible path from bench to product within 18 months. Vaporware and 'we just need funding to start' pitches are rejected.
If successful, materially improves a domain — climate, health, security, access to capital, foundational infrastructure. Cool ≠ impactful; we optimize for the latter.
At least one team member has shipped in the domain before, has a track record in academic research, or has verifiable expertise. Solo first-time founders can still qualify with a strong mentor pairing.
Regulatory pathway is understood and appropriate steps have started — FCC/UL for hardware, FDA for medical, ITAR/FAA for aerospace. We won't gatekeep on completed compliance, but you must know what applies.
Categories we accept
- Hardware — physical products with engineering novelty. Robotics, sensors, wearables, consumer electronics with meaningful IP.
- Biotech — diagnostics, therapeutics with disclosed FDA classification, synthetic biology, engineered organisms.
- Energy — generation, storage, transmission, efficiency. Batteries, capacitors, grid infrastructure, distributed generation.
- Space — launch, satellites, in-space services, ground infrastructure. ITAR compliance required where applicable.
- Robotics — autonomous systems, industrial robotics, mobility, actuators. Safety certification pathway required.
- Materials — novel materials science, manufacturing processes, additive manufacturing. Include characterization data.
- Medicine — medical devices (Class I/II/III with disclosed classification), digital therapeutics, health infrastructure.
- Compute — novel silicon, non-standard architectures, open-hardware compute, edge AI hardware.
What we won't list
These categories are outside scope even if your project would score well on the rubric. Some are policy, some are payment-processor restrictions, some are compliance risks we don't take on.
- Consumer software or apps without a hardware or biotech component
- Fashion, accessories, jewelry, or lifestyle brands
- Restaurants, retail chains, and hospitality
- Cryptocurrencies, tokens, NFTs, ICOs, staking-as-a-service
- Firearms, ammunition, weapons systems, explosives
- Controlled substances, tobacco/vaping, adult content, gambling
- Multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes
- Speculative energy claims (perpetual motion, zero-point, cold fusion sold as functional)
- Anything on the Acceptable Use Policy restricted list
The review process
- Day 0 — Submission. You submit through /campaigns/submit. We take your name, KYC identity documents, technical description, evidence (data, prototype photos or video, published papers), team bios, target raise amount, and offering type (Reg CF / Reg D / Reg A+ / rewards-only).
- Day 1–2 — Screening. A staff reviewer runs baseline checks: identity, bad-actor screening under SEC Rule 503, KYB for corporate entities, and prohibited-category filter.
- Day 2–5 — Domain review. Two independent domain reviewers score against the rubric. They can request more evidence once; second-pass reviewer signs off.
- Day 5–7 — Decision. Accept, reject with specific feedback, or accept-with-conditions (e.g., "acceptable pending FCC certification path documented"). You receive a written decision on the seventh day at the latest.
- Day 8+ — Listing prep. Accepted projects work with an onboarding lead to build the campaign page, prepare Form C/D/1-A filings if applicable, pair with a mentor, and set launch date.
Team requirements
- Every campaign owner passes identity verification (KYC) through Stripe Identity or equivalent.
- Every campaign owner passes bad-actor screening under SEC Rule 503 (17 CFR § 230.506(d)).
- Corporate entities pass KYB verification.
- Every campaign owner enables two-factor authentication before receiving payouts.
- Campaign owners disclose real name, real physical address, and true legal entity — anonymous or shell-only pseudonymous listings are not allowed.
If you're rejected
Every rejection comes with a written explanation identifying which rubric dimension(s) you fell short on and what would need to change for a resubmission to succeed. You can:
- Appeal within 14 days if you believe the review missed material information. Appeals are handled by a different domain reviewer than the original decision.
- Resubmit at any time after material changes. Resubmissions get expedited review (typically 3 days) if the changes address the previous rejection reasons.
- Request a mentor match without listing — some rejected projects benefit from a few months of mentor guidance before returning. This is free.