Announcing: The Zee Prime Residency at Edge Esmeralda 2026

A month-long testing ground for deep tech founders who need real users, real feedback, and real peers to stress-test what they're building.

March 20, 2026

Apply here: APPLICATION LINK | Deadline: Apr 19, 2026

TLDR

  • 10+ deep tech founders living and building together in a dedicated Founders House at Edge Esmeralda (May 30 to June 27, Healdsburg, CA)
  • 1,000+ builders, researchers, and mentors in the village to stress-test your work
  • Coworking, workshops, talks, demo day, and direct access to Zee Prime Capital's investment team for the full month
  • Application deadline: April 19th. Rolling reviews.


Founding companies often have a deployment problem. You can build in isolation for months, but eventually the thing needs to meet real people in a real environment. Most founders don't get that until they're way too far down the road. The Zee Prime Residency is designed to fix that.

From May 30 to June 27, we're bringing a cohort of 10+ deep tech founders to Edge Esmeralda in Healdsburg, Northern California, to live and build for a full month inside a community of 1,000+ builders, researchers, and mentors. Zee Prime Capital is partnering with Edge City to make it happen.

The setup

The cohort lives together in a dedicated Founders House on a hillside property with river views, with full access to everything Edge Esmeralda offers: coworking, community meals, wellness programming, talks, workshops, and a final demo day. The basics are covered so you can focus on the work.

The real value is the people around you. Edge Esmeralda draws 1,000+ builders and researchers across AI, biotech, crypto, hard tech, and beyond. These are the kind of technical peers who will use what you're making, break it, tell you what's wrong, and help you fix it.

Zee Prime's team will be there for the full month with office hours, working sessions, and direct access to their investment team.

Why Zee Prime

Zee Prime Capital is a flexible capital firm backing founders building the infrastructure the world will run on in ten years. Their portfolio includes Polymarket, Solana, Epic Aerospace, Tiberius Aerospace, Terra Fusion, and many more.

That thesis maps naturally onto Edge Esmeralda: if you're building ambitious ideas, you need a dense network of technical peers to test with, and a month-long village of 1,000+ builders is hard to beat.

Who should apply

You're building something with real technical depth in deep tech, hard tech or crypto, the kind of project where you need to give people a few minutes of context before they understand what you're working on. You're past the idea stage and have something you can put in front of people. You want honest, technical feedback from people who are capable of giving it.

You also want to be useful to the people around you. The best cohorts are full of people who help each other, not just people who show up to get help.

If that sounds like you: Zee Prime Residency @ Edge Esmeralda 2026

We review applications on a rolling basis. Questions? Reach out to us: telamon@edgecity.live

About Zee Prime Capital

Zee Prime Capital is a venture fund with no rules. They invest in the frontier moving overton window to the world’s brightest new ideas. Their portfolio includes Polymarket, Solana, Epic Aerospace, Terra Fusion, and many more. The team is led by partners Matti (@mattigags), Cam (@luffistotle), and Rapolas (@long_solitude). Learn more at zeeprime.capital.

About Edge City

Edge City convenes people working at the frontiers of tech, science, and society in pop-up villages across the globe. We are building a society incubator: an IRL lab of experimentation for new ideas, technology, culture, and institutions, all aimed at accelerating human flourishing. Our popup villages last one month and gather leaders from fields like AI, biotech, crypto, hard tech, governance, philosophy, and beyond. We've had over 12,000 people participate across eight gatherings.

About Edge Esmeralda

Edge Esmeralda is a month-long popup village designed to be the healthiest, most productive, and most inspiring month of your year. It takes place each summer in Northern California and brings together innovators from across tech, science, culture, and society. Edge Esmeralda 2026 will be the third edition of the village and serves as a prototype for Esmeralda, a permanent new town being built just 15 minutes away.

Apply here to attend: https://edgeesmeralda.com/