StarkWare, the firm behind the Starknet blockchain, has announced the launch of a $4 million venture fund to foster the growth of blockchain startups in Africa.
[TECH] [EXPLAINER] A Look at Starknet, the Latest Layer 2 Ethereum Scaling Solution with Rising TVL: Starknet is an open-source framework designed to enhance scalability and privacy for decentralized applica.. https://t.co/yg9ybPibfP via @BitcoinKE
— Top Kenyan Blogs (@Blogs_Kenya) June 4, 2023
The Africa-focused venture fund is spearheaded by Kheireddine Kamal, a seasoned African entrepreneur and investor, said StarWare.
“Kamal brings deep experience in business development, blockchain, and seed investments to the initiative, having worked with several startups across the continent.”
The Africa investment team will focus on early-stage teams, particularly those at the pre-seed and seed stages, with an emphasis on projects aiming to deploy their solutions on Starknet, the zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup massively scaling Ethereum.
Early-stage startups can apply for grants of up to $150,000, while more advanced teams may receive larger investments, typically up to $500,000.
These grants aim to support projects at various development stages. StarkWare is especially interested in teams that blend technical expertise with business acumen and plan to launch their blockchain projects on Starknet.
The fund aims to support regions with strong blockchain adoption potential, including:
- West Africa
- Francophone Africa
- East Africa, and
- South Africa
In these areas, many innovative and resilient entrepreneurs face structural challenges like high transaction fees, inefficient financial systems, and limited access to the global digital economy.
By providing funding, mentorship, and technical expertise, the initiative seeks to help African founders overcome these obstacles and expand their projects internationally.
“For much of the blockchain industry, talk of financial inclusion for the unbanked and benefits for Africa has never gone beyond virtue signaling,” said Kamal in the announcement of the fund. “We’ve decided it’s time for the next phase, and we’re putting our money where our mouths are.”
Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO and Co-Founder of StarkWare, emphasized blockchain’s unique opportunity for Africa:
“Blockchain presents a unique opportunity for many parts of Africa to leapfrog outdated infrastructures and democratize access to financial tools with more decentralization and transparency.
And Africa is an exciting mass market that will drive innovation, and showcase what can be achieved with mass scale.”
If you are a founder in Africa and are interested in learning more, contact Kheireddine Kamal directly by email or on X.
______________________________________
