A US accelerator firm-Celo has launched a support programme for African startups in payments, remittances, virtual assets, savings, and related financial services.
Dubbed Celo Africa Web3 Fund, it will enable Web2 founders across Africa to adopt a strategy and scale their businesses to achieve deeper financial inclusion, lower transaction costs and more affordable credit.
It is aimed at supporting the inclusive financial system that contributes to prosperity for all mobile-first blockchain ecosystems.
Celo’s Ecosystem Lead for Kenya, Daniel Kimotho, said that in Africa, the crypto landscape is rapidly evolving and there exist a host of opportunities for traditional startups.
“These opportunities could transform community access to financial products and services, driving wealth and inclusion by creating entry points for people to hold and own digital assets,” Kimotho added.
The financial infrastructure which is in partnership with multiples including Unicorn Growth Capital, ApeUnit, Echo VC, Uncovered Fund and Flori Ventures has built innovative Web 3 applications that now support over 1000 projects globally created by developers and artists.
The Web 2 applicants will receive financial investment and technical support from the payment infrastructure.
This is a step in enabling the Web 2 founders across the continent to adopt a given strategy and scale their businesses to achieve deeper financial inclusion, lower transaction costs and more affordable credit.
Thus, Celo launched an open call for Web 2 founders from payments, remittances, crypto, savings, lending and other related financial services sectors with an interest in crypto to apply for the Web3 Fund by 15 July.
This comes in as a countermeasure to the challenges that the Pan-African startups and businesses face regularly.
They include disparate regional currencies, expensive payment and collection infrastructure, and capital controls in some markets.
Since its inception in 2020, the programme is set to stretch its foot across five African countries by conducting in-person workshops across the countries with the first one scheduled for Nairobi.
Thereafter additional workshops will follow in Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
The deadline for applications to the Kenya workshop today.
