Grace Ashiru
DFS Lab, a fintech incubator cis working with the Stellar Development Foundation to start a fund for African start-ups that want to change how digital payments work.
The DFS Lab Stellar Africa Fund I will give money to teams and builders in Africa that are promising and are building on the Stellar network. A statement seen by Techloy says that the Fund will make early investments of up to $100,000. As teams grow, the Fund may make more investments as well.
The portfolio founders who get investments will have access to DFS Lab’s team and network and mentors from the Stellar Development Foundation and Stellar ecosystem companies.
According to Joseph Benson, Partner at DFS Lab, the potential offered by decentralized solutions in Africa is indisputable, as the continent’s financial sector is frequently hampered by inefficiency, opacity, and a lack of interoperability.
Some approaches will falter as hype gives way to reality. Still, those who break through and find traction may find themselves building foundational platforms that can underpin the future of digital transactions on the continent.
The new Fund builds on past work between DFS Lab and the Stellar Development Foundation on blockchain bootcamps. These programs helped developers and companies in Africa build products on the Stellar open-source network.
Stephen Deng, a partner at DFS Lab, said that the Fund is open to many different use cases but will be especially interested in those that solve for fiat-to-crypto ramps and build cross-border payments for the continent.
