Bitcoin News and Finance Africa-Focused Venture Capital Firm Echovc Launches Blockchain Fund Skip to main content

Africa-Focused Venture Capital Firm Echovc Launches Blockchain Fund

The Africa-focused venture capital (VC) firm, Echovc, has launched a fund that seeks to support blockchain startups on the continent. While global blockchain funding has been on a decline over the past year, Echovc founder Eghosa Omoigui claimed that investing now enables the VC to get in “at lower entry valuations on average than in prior years.”

Startups Offering Blockchain-Based Solutions Qualify for Funding

The pan-African venture capital firm, Echovc, recently said it had launched an $8 million fund which is dedicated to Africa’s blockchain startups. According to the company’s blog post, the fund known as the Echovc Chain will be accessible to startups that are attempting to solve the continent’s challenges using the blockchain.

As noted in a report by Techcabal, Echovc’s new fund has been launched at a time when global funding for crypto and blockchain startups has been declining. The drop in funding has already forced some entrepreneurs to sell their startups.

Echovc Targets Underserved African Countries

Yet, despite this plunge in funding, Eghosa Omoigui, the founder and general managing partner at Echovc, is quoted in the report suggesting that now is the ideal time to fund startups because doing so allows the VC “to invest at lower entry valuations on average than in prior years.” The founder added:

While this has somewhat reduced VC appetite for crypto investing, we continue to remain excited about the useful applications of crypto and blockchain in Africa, and believe that crypto founders in Africa will continue to build for functionality to solve problems in Africa.

Meanwhile, the Techcabal report also revealed that Echovc has deployed over $41 million across 36 startups globally. In Africa, the VC firm has mainly targeted startups in the so-called underserved markets such as Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda. Startups that leverage blockchain to power foundational fintech infrastructure are among the firms being targeted. Firms focused on blockchain functionality and decentralized autonomous organizations also qualify for funding.

According to Echovc, once the funds are fully deployed, its portfolio of companies will have increased to between 12 and 20 companies.

Register your email here to get a weekly update on African news sent to your inbox:

What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Blogarama - Blog Directory