StarkWare has announced the launch of a $4 million venture fund to support blockchain startups across Africa. The fund is led by Kheireddine Kamal, a seasoned African entrepreneur and investor. Kamal has worked with several startups across the continent and brings deep experience in business development, blockchain, and seed investments to the initiative.
StarkWare says the Africa investment team will focus on early-stage teams. It will particularly focus on pre-seed and seed-stage startups with projects aiming to deploy their solutions on Starknet.
Early-stage startups can apply for grants of up to $150,000, with larger investments available to more advanced teams (generally up to $500,000). Grants are designed to help projects at different stages of development. StarkWare is particularly interested in teams that combine technical expertise with business acumen, and are looking to deploy their blockchain projects on Starknet.
Kamal’s focus for the fund is to target regions with populations that are eager to embrace blockchain, such as West Africa, East Africa, and South Africa, where many resourceful and resilient entrepreneurs face structural barriers, such as high transaction fees, broken financial systems, and exclusion from the global digital economy. By combining funding, mentorship, and technical expertise, this initiative will help African founders overcome these challenges and scale their projects globally.
Kamal, a Moroccan-born entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in the tech ecosystem, is passionate about empowering Africa’s digital economy. He stresses that for Africa, Web3 is not just another technology, but rather a gateway to self-sovereignty and financial independence.
“For much of the blockchain industry, talk of financial inclusion for the unbanked and benefits for Africa has never gone beyond virtue signaling,” said Kamal in the announcement of the fund. “We’ve decided it’s time for the next phase, and we’re putting our money where our mouths are.”
Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO and co-founder of StarkWare, emphasized blockchain’s unique opportunity for Africa, “Blockchain presents a unique opportunity for many parts of Africa to leapfrog outdated infrastructures and democratize access to financial tools with more decentralization and transparency. And Africa is an exciting mass market that will drive innovation, and showcase what can be achieved with mass scale.”
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