Merit Systems, a startup focused on changing the economics of open source software development, has raised $10 million in a seed funding round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz's cryptocurrency fund and Blockchain Capital.

Merit is developing an attribution protocol for open source projects, a system that will track contributions and reward contributors proportional to the value they create.

According to its founders, the protocol seeks to create a more sustainable economic model for open source projects. The project indicated that the basic idea is to assign and reward contributors based on the value they add to the project, moving away from relying on volunteer contributions or corporate support, which often dictates the direction of projects.

“Merit adds rich attribution information to software version control systems like GitHub. It allows capital sources to direct funds to codebases and incentivize builders directly,” the project said in a note shared with The Block.

The founders, including Ryan Sproule, Sam Ragsdale, and Mason Hall, have backgrounds in prominent technology and cryptocurrency environments. Sproule previously worked at Blockchain Capital, while Hall and Ragsdale have experience with investment teams at Andreessen Horowitz.

$10M seed round announced at $55.5M post-funding valuation.