The third version of the Internet, Web3, is relatively early in Africa. Technologies including blockchain, Internet of Things (IOT), Metaverse, NFT and more promise a free, open and decentralized world. These technologies provide Africa with a way to catch up with the rest of the world. The level of adoption on the continent is rising.
Chainalysis, a blockchain research and analysis company, estimates that the cryptocurrency market in Africa grew by more than 1200% between June 2020 and July 2021. Also, according to a data report from BD Tracker, African Web3 and Crypto startups raised $ 139 million in the first half of 2022.
These reveal that Africans are embracing developers, fintechs, and businesses deploying Web3 to provide solutions to continental protracted problems. Here are some of the leading African startups driving the adoption of Web3 on the African continent.
They are Afropolitan, Lazerpay, Mara, Ayoken, Fincra, Helicarrier, Xend Finance, Jambo, Nestcoin, Pyppl, Canza Finance, Fombnk, Valr, and One Wattsolar.
Afropolitan
Afropolitan is a start-up company that wants to build a digital nation for Africans at home and abroad. Community companies as a service curate the talent, culture, capital, information and experience of blacks and Africans.
Afropolitan leverages Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), NFTs and cryptocurrencies to create cross-border economic opportunities and a better life for its members. The startup was founded in 2016 by Eche Emole and Chika Uwazie.
Lazerpay
In the digital economy, gig workers and businesses need fast payments and payment methods to expand across borders. Lazerpay has built a decentralized multi-chain payment gateway to make that possible.
Lazerpay uses a decentralized finance API to foster innovative crypto products that expose individual businesses to more opportunities. These products include cryptocurrency payments, global payments (at any time, no time you like), business wallets, cryptocurrency investments and returns. Lazerpay was founded in December 2021 by Njoku Emmanuel, Prosper Ubi and Abdulfatai Suleiman.
Related article: Blockchain; Dark Horse in Nigerian Economy
Mara
Mara is a pan-African start-up that offers a range of products that help sub-Saharan Africans learn from blockchain technology and earn money. The products of the new Pan-African platform are focused on helping to enable numerous blockchain use cases in a scalable manner.
Mara, the official crypto partner of the Central African Republic, currently has a retail crypto wallet for storage, building pro exchanges for professional traders and developers building crypto and blockchain products focused on Africa. We plan to build a layer 1 blockchain to do this. ChiNnadi founded Mara in April 2021.
Ayoken
Ayoken is Africa’s first digital collectors marketplace that connects creators with viewers around the world. The NFT Marketplace bridges the gap between artists, musicians, sports brands, influencers, creators and their fans around the world.
Through Ayoken’s NFT Marketplace, creators can provide fans with exclusive Metaverse-specific content. The platform was founded in 2021 by Joshua King.
Finkura
Fincra is a payment solution provider that enables a seamless payment experience. Fincra’s API integration gives fintechs, businesses and developers access to cross-border payment solutions, payments, payments in various currencies, data security and encryption to prevent fraud.
The startup also offers virtual accounts for EUR, GBP and NGN, regardless of location. Fincra was launched by Wole Ayodele in September 2021 to eliminate the challenges associated with traditional payment processing methods.
Helicopter
Helicopters are building crypto infrastructure to financially connect Africa to other parts of the world. The products we are developing to achieve this are Buycoins & Buycoinspro and Sendcash.
Buycoins is the place to buy, sell and manage your crypto portfolio. Buycoins Pro is for advanced crypto traders with purchase orders, more currency pairs, and other tools for ultra-fast trading on the go. Sendcash makes it easy for users to send money to and from Africa.Helicopter (originally Bitcoin) was founded by Timi AjiboeIre Aderinokun, 2017 Tomiwa Rasebican.
XendFinance
Xend Finance brings Decentralized Finance services to Africa. Blockchain-based applications allow users to save on stable currencies to hedge inflation and devaluation. Online savings platforms focus on using decentralized finance (DeFi) to solve the problem of currency devaluation.
Xend Finance is billed as Africa’s first global blockchain bank and aims to help credit unions, co-operatives and individuals save in a stable currency. Abafor Chima and Aronu Ugochukwu founded the organization in 2019.
jumbo
Jambo is a Congo-based startup that builds web3 super apps that educate, bank, and entertain the continent. The startup wants young Africans to join the Web3 financial ecosystem through play-earning games and decentralized finance (DeFi) services such as currency exchange and money transfers.
Jumbo was founded by James Chan The startup wants to recreate the success of its Web3 project in Southeast Asia across Africa.
Nest coin
Nestcoin is democratizing people’s access to economic opportunities in the frontier market. The Web3 application company was founded by Yele Badamosi in November 2021. Nestcoin’s current products are Breach Club and Metaverse Magna.
Startups leverage educational, user-centric, scalable and simplified crypto-native products to eliminate the barriers associated with cryptocurrencies (ignorance, complexity, skill gaps, etc.). Nestcoin does these without compromising quality and functionality.
Pyypl
Pyypl’s innovative blockchain-based technology platform allows users to manage their money directly from their mobile phones. The financial services platform provides digital wallet and MasterCard payment services that make it easy for people to shop online.
Pyypl (pronounced “people”) is a digital financial services provider founded in 2017. The UAE-based platform is currently led by Antti Arponen. Pyypl currently operates in Kenya and Mozambique.
Kanza Finance
Canza Finance is building the world’s largest non-institutional financial system. Canza, which stands for “Change” in Hausa, combines web3.0 technology, DeFi, crypto assets, and Bureau de change operators (FX agents) to lock various financial products for individuals and businesses in these areas. It is released.
Startup financial products include cross-border payments and activation of peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions within Nigeria. Canza Finance was founded in 2020 by Paschal Ntsama and Oyedeji Oluwoye.
Fonbnk
Fonbnk is a new decentralized financial company that uses innovative communication tools to reduce the cost of internet and telephone invoices. Startups want to increase the disposable income and per capita GDP of undervalued people in sub-Saharan Africa.
Fonbnk allows users to redeem time credits using MIN tokens, regardless of mobile network operator (MNO) or country. MIN tokens are fixed at USD and can be redeemed for broadcast time, cryptocurrencies, and other more stable fiat currencies.
Fonbnk currently operates in six African countries. Founded in 2019 by Christian Duffus.
VALR
VALR is a digital asset trading platform that allows users to buy, sell, store and transfer cryptocurrencies. Pronounced courage / courage, this startup helps bridge the gap between the traditional flat financial system and the new world of crypto assets.
Farzam Ehsani founded South Africa-based Valr in 2019. Valr supports over 60 crypto assets and uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to automate compliance.
OneWattSolar
OneWattSolar is powered by a blockchain architecture and offers tokenized digital services and products backed by IoT and AI. The mobile technology platform provides Energy-As-A-Service by using Rooftop Solar to decentralize power generation.
OneWattSolar pays the cost of ownership instead of having the user pay for the cost of solar infrastructure in advance or in installments, but the user pays only for electricity. The Clean Tech startup was founded in 2010 by Femi Oye.
summary
Due to Africa’s young population, Web3 technology will continue to take hold on the African continent and more start-ups will continue to emerge. This technology also facilitates participation from blockchain networks / protocols, venture capital firms, grant providers, governments and other key stakeholders.
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