Crypto Valley Venture Capital, which also calls itself CV VC, is launching an Africa-focused fund to support blockchain startups on the continent. The investor made the announcement Monday at the Blockchain Hub next to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The fund will invest in 100 startups on the African continent over the next four years, CV VC said in a press release. According to the announcement, CV VC has so far invested in 12 startups where "blockchain use cases go far beyond cryptocurrencies to drive Africa's future." The investor aims to raise between $10 million and $50 million through the fund.
Among the 12 startups CV VC has already invested in are Leading House Africa, a startup from Nigeria that enables property registration on the blockchain, and Mazzuma, a mobile payment platform from Ghana. According to Olaf Hannemann, co-founder and CIO of CV VC, most of the startups are likely to come from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Egypt, but the company is open to funding projects from across the continent.
"We just want the best ideas from everywhere," Hannemann said.
On Monday, CV VC released the African Blockchain Report, which highlights the growth of the blockchain sector in Africa. According to the report, funding for African blockchain startups outpaced overall African venture funding growth by 11 times year-over-year.
Africa is a fast-growing crypto market, attracting large investments from the crypto sector, according to the report. Earlier this month, pan-African centralized crypto exchange Mara, led by Coinbase Ventures and Alameda Research, raised $23 million. The Central African Republic recently adopted bitcoin as legal tender.
Based in Switzerland, CV VC is a public-private partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Swiss labor market authority.