Stellar Network and DFS Labs announce African fintech startup fund

By: Henry Felix

April 5, 2023 5:49 AM

The fund will provide funding to entrepreneurs developing digital payment systems on the Stellar blockchain.

DFS Lab, an Afro-centric early-stage investor, and Stellar Development Foundation, the Stellar Network's non-profit arm, have joined together to launch the DFS Lab Stellar Africa Fund I. The fund aims to assist African entrepreneurs in developing innovative digital payment systems using the Stellar blockchain network.

The fund gives up to $100,000 in initial investments, which may be increased as teams grow.

Selected entrepreneurs will have access to DFS Labs and the Stellar ecosystem, as well as mentorship from the Stellar Development Foundation and Stellar ecosystem enterprises.

DFS Lab and the Stellar Development Foundation are collaborating to expand on their prior successful blockchain bootcamps in Africa. The bootcamps assisted developers and startups in developing a variety of products on the open-source Stellar network, and our collaboration aims to build on that success.

DFS Labs Partner Stephen Deng stated:

"We're interested in many use cases, but particularly ones that solve for fiat-crypto ramps and those that construct continental cross-border payments."
We will fund both teams who are familiar with the Stellar platform and those that are integrating Stellar for the first time into their product roadmaps. We want to make an initial investment of up to $100,000, with additional follow-on investments available as teams grow."

The DFS Lab and Stellar Development Foundation previously sponsored a blockchain bootcamp last year, with over 20 African startup teams receiving a total of over 13 million Stellar cryptocurrency (XLM) — which is currently worth about $1.36 million.