“Upfront OP-token grants for apps that grow usage on the Superchain, the live path for Optimism non-dilutive funding since Retro Funding was paused for at least 12 months, but seasonal: the Season 9 window closed May 20, 2026 and Season 10 has not yet opened.”
Season 9 names DEX TVL and lending-market liquidity as an explicit success metric for DeFi applicants. Consumer apps and dev tooling are also eligible but should weigh whether the Base Ecosystem Fund is a better-fit door if their activity is mostly on Base rather than OP Mainnet.
Optimism's non-dilutive funding landscape changed materially heading into 2026. Retro Funding, the retroactive public-goods program that rewarded shipped impact after the fact, is paused for at least 12 months as of Season 9. The Optimism Foundation's own post frames this as a deliberate shift: "The Retro Funding program will be paused to reevaluate how it fits into Optimism's long term strategy," as the Collective moves toward what it calls Capital Allocation 2.0 and a heavier focus on OP Stack execution and enterprise adoption. Roughly 775M OP previously reserved for the program may be reallocated. A founder pitching Retro Funding today is pitching a closed door.
Growth Grants is the live substitute, but it runs in seasonal windows rather than year-round. Where Retro Funding paid out after the fact based on measured impact, Growth Grants is an upfront program: teams register in OP Atlas, apply through the Grants Council mission, and receive funding ahead of proving impact, with the Council screening for applications on Superchain chains contributing to the ecosystem. The Season 9 budget was up to 3.89M OP, down from 6.29M OP in Season 8, reflecting the broader pullback in Optimism's grant spending. The Collective forum thread announcing the Season 9 window, posted February 12, 2026, states the Grants Council closed submissions on May 20, 2026. As of this verification on September 9, 2026, no Season 10 window had been announced on opgrants.io or the Optimism blog; treat Growth Grants as closed until a new window is confirmed. The Season 9 success metric leaned on DeFi specifically: DEX total value locked and liquidity on lending markets for collateral-borrow pairs, a pattern likely to carry into the next season.
Audit Grants run alongside Growth Grants for pre-launch teams needing a security review subsidy, and are also applied for through opgrants.io; confirm their status separately since seasonal timing can differ.
Growth Grants also targets the Superchain broadly, not OP Mainnet alone: the Superchain Index that the Council screens against includes Base and other OP Stack chains, so a Base-native team is in scope for this program, not only the Base Ecosystem Fund.
Key stats:
| Person or team | Role | Where to find them |
|---|---|---|
| Optimism Grants Council | Runs Growth Grants and Audit Grants, publishes the selection algorithm before selecting | opgrants.io |
| Optimism Foundation | Sets Collective-level strategy, including the Retro Funding pause | optimism.io/blog |
The Grants Council does not publish individual reviewer names on its public pages, and we have not guessed.