Adaverse, a Cardano ecosystem accelerator in Africa backed by EMURGO Africa with a mission to scale Web3 projects on the Cardano blockchain, has announced an investment in BoundlessPay, a digital banking platform simplifying cross-border transactions for Africans and Diasporan Africans. 

Adaverse and EMURGO Africa join other strategic investors in an ongoing pre-seed fundraising initiative to launch BoundlessPay into its next phase of development in 2023.

Shogo Ishida, co-CEO at EMURGO Middle East & Africa commented, ”BoundlessPay is doing something unique and different with what many have tried and failed. We are excited to be a part of this growth process. It takes a determined heart to build a sustainable Web3 platform that projects into the future development of Africa, which is why Cardano’s proven blockchain platform is ideal for this structural growth and offers flexibility and sustainability.”

Vincent Li, founding partner at Adaverse stated, “We are equally excited about BoundlessPay’s capabilities, especially their talented team. We believe that they have what it takes to sustain this momentum by providing a sustainable socially-impactful platform with a drive for excellence. As such, BoundlessPay will benefit greatly from the Adaverse 3-month accelerator program and be able to connect to the global resources within the Cardano community.’’ 

In the Q&A interview below, Franklin Peters, CEO of BoundlessPay, talks about the Adaverse investment, eCommerce potential in Africa, and how the company plans to achieve its goal by integrating Cardano blockchain infrastructure. 

Q&A with BoundlessPay CEO Franklin Peters

Q: Tell us about BoundlessPay. 

Peters: BoundlessPay is a global digital banking app for cross-border collections, payments, and settlements that utilizes blockchain to solve remittance and payment problems. I have a background in computer science and in 2021, I decided to start BoundlessPay. Our mission is to interconnect Africans to digitally-driven global e-commerce, leveraging Web3 technology to build an affordable, fast, and easy-to-use payment platform. 

Q: How does BoundlessPay operate?

Peters: BoundlessPay is accessible as a mobile and web application that enables everyone anywhere to send, receive, exchange, and swap currencies easily. The platform operates on USD-pegged stablecoins like USDT and Cardano USDA as an alternative way to store and spend money locally and globally and users can access virtual USD cards and virtual fiat accounts, and easily on-ramp and off-ramp within seconds. 

Q: What are the prevalent challenges BoundlessPay aims to tackle?

Peters: Having identified the economic wave of consumption across continents and the interconnectivity of eCommerce globally, BoundlessPay is positioned as a bridge for Africans to access opportunities beyond her shores. In Africa, currency depreciation and inflation are at an all-time high. There is a palpable fear of wealth storage in local fiat currencies, while the number of unbanked and underbanked continues to grow. Africans are massively exiting their local fiat currencies into stronger currencies such as USD and GBP and stablecoins to protect their assets and resources. 

Q: Why is blockchain a necessity for BoundlessPay services?

Peters: By building on Web3 tools, BoundlessPay eliminates cross-border barriers, allowing anyone, anywhere, to access a trusted multi-currency wallet, with value-added services like utility bill payments and currency swaps. Having experienced disappointment with similar Web2 cross-border platforms stunted by unfavourable government regulations, BoundlessPay has set out to offer a Web3 platform that is free of hassles and highly secure. By fostering strategic partnerships with global organisations, BoundlessPay gives users better international money transfers and instant settlement options. 

Despite the growing use of fintech apps and the wide adoption of mobile money platforms, the interoperability hurdle for a cross-border settlement still plagues the African economic structures due to restrictive regulations. The process of obtaining foreign currencies and opening accounts for foreign transactions in Africa is heavily regulated with stringent requirements that cannot be met by the middle and low-income earners seeking alternatives to their devaluing fiat currencies. Therefore, to break these barriers, BoundlessPay provides trusted and instant FOREX services available to all including the underbanked. 

Q: How will BoundlessPay promote the Cardano blockchain ecosystem?

Peters: It’s a win-win relationship between Cardano and BoundlessPay. Building on the environmentally-friendly Cardano blockchain allows for low transaction fees and the platform is sustainable, secure, interoperable, decentralized, and backed by a team of researchers who are dedicated to constantly improving the system using peer-reviewed methods. BoundlessPay will utilise and fully support the Cardano blockchain in its scaling. This means that Cardano native tokens can be listed on BoundlessPay, especially Cardano stablecoins. BoundlessPay intends to intensify marketing efforts in Africa to drive the adoption of Cardano-based tokens among retail investors, traders, and developers. In addition, BoundlessPay will partner with dApps in the Cardano ecosystem to ensure interoperability and growth of the ecosystem.

Q: How will Adaverse contribute to the BoundlessPay growth plan?

Partnering with EMURGO Africa and Adaverse was one of our major highlights in 2022. It has opened up the possibility of a new dimension of growth. We plan to create more services that support Cardano native tokens on our app in the future including launching our native token on the Cardano network. As the Adaverse team is constantly building a healthy ecosystem and community in Africa, we at BoundlessPay are excited to tap into this wealth of resources to provide more bespoke services that truly solve African payment and remittance problems which we believe can be achieved on the Cardano Blockchain.

To enjoy seamless and flexible cross-border transactions, visit the BoundlessPay website.

About Adaverse

Adaverse is a driving force in the Cardano ecosystem growth across Africa with grassroots reach and connected investment towards the development of Web3 startups expanding the eCommerce market potential in Africa. Founded in 2021 as a joint-venture partnership between EMURGO Africa and Everest Ventures Group to identify and scale 300 promising Web3 projects in Africa, Adaverse has invested in 30 startups across seven (7) sub-Saharan African countries. 

Through a unique market-tailored approach, Adaverse is committed to scaling young startups, offering a 1:1 mentorship program, adequate funding, and tech support to founders building sustainable and globally-relevant businesses. In 2023, Adaverse will dedicate more resources to expand growth in the Cardano community and help launch game-changing solutions, especially Cardano-focused projects across Africa and the Middle East to usher in the digitally fortified global economy. 

Startups that are African-focused building Web3 solutions can apply for funding and mentorship here 

Adaverse, an EMURGO-backed Web3 accelerator focused on Cardano ecosystem adoption in Africa, recently announced its investment into Momint, a Web3 marketplace that makes investing in crypto and NFTs easy for users of all skill levels. Adaverse joined Momint’s highly competitive seed round alongside Outlier Ventures, Mountain Partners, Rob Hersov, and simple.Capital.

Adaverse was launched in September 2021 as a joint venture partnership between EMURGO Africa and Everest Ventures. Adaverse aims to identify and provide valuable support resources to promising African startups building socially impactful Web3 solutions on Cardano’s environmentally-friendly, decentralized blockchain. 

Cardano is one of the largest open-source blockchain networks in the industry and utilizes a proof-of-stake consensus protocol to secure its network in an eco-friendly manner.  

Momint is an NFT content marketplace that provides a secure, ad-free experience to users while preserving individual privacy. It’s a seamless bridge for users journeying from Web2 to Web3, to learn about, discuss, and discover digital assets they would like to own.

More than just a way to mint and trade NFTs, Momint is a comprehensive social network for digital assets where users can follow their favourite creators and curate collections, learn about Web3, join community discussions, launch projects, and trade digital assets. 

Founded by tech entrepreneurs Ahren Posthumous and Adam Romyn with the support of serial investor Rob Hersov, Momint began taking shape at the end of 2020. Ahren and Adam had previously found success reaching over 8 million users organically with an award-winning app that simplified government lockdown regulations in South Africa and now brings their experience to simplifying the complex world of Web3 and blockchain to reach the masses.

NFTs and the metaverse are changing the world as we know it. In 2021, combined NFT sales reached $17.6 billion—a massive 21,350% increase over the previous year. NFTs have become so significant that Collins Dictionary named ‘NFT’ the 2021 ‘Word of the Year’.

However, Africans have been slow to enter NFT and metaverse markets. Despite having the highest rates of crypto adoption worldwide, Nigerians rank only sixth for search interest in NFTs. While there is growing interest among African consumers and investors in NFTs, the market has so far failed to accommodate African priorities.

The inherent complexities of trading and managing NFT collections across different blockchains, combined with high gas fees on primary chains like Ethereum, and an average NFT cost of $807.52 in 2021 have prevented Africans from diving head-first into NFT markets. With NFT markets expected to be worth $231 billion by 2030, there is an incredible opportunity for African consumers and investors to benefit from NFTs, should access become easier.

Momint has a significant role to play by onboarding the next one million users to Web3. With a mobile-optimized NFT marketplace that’s simple enough for users with no crypto experience to use and platform fees that are affordable for all, Momint is built to meet the needs of users in emerging economies like Africa. To improve the adoption rate, the team has already secured major partnerships with several grassroots community-focused startups that will introduce hundreds of thousands of users to the platform in the short term including Scoin, a project enabling community ownership of a rare part of South Africa’s history, and the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, whose mission is to put an end to drownings globally through swimming and water safety education.

With Adaverse’s support, Momint is expanding its marketplace to support users on Cardano. Momint is committed to environmental sustainability and tech interoperability, making Cardano an ideal chain to support. Built to provide accessible economic services to all through decentralized applications on its open-source platform,  and with a carbon footprint of less than 0.01% of Bitcoin’s, Cardano is the perfect blockchain ecosystem for Momint’s creators and users looking for long-term solutions. With a huge and growing global community that recently marked its fifth anniversary, Cardano has an expansive reach of users for Momint’s potential user base.

Shogo Ishida, co-CEO for the Middle East & Africa at EMURGO Africa, stated: “The next generation of Web3 users won’t be crypto-native—they’ll be Web2 users that find simplified ways to begin using blockchain services. Momint is positioned to enable this transition by giving Africans access to easy and affordable ways to begin exploring NFT markets.”

Momint Team 

Ahren Posthumus, CEO and Co-Founder of Momint, said: “We felt that it made so much sense for Momint to partner with Adaverse. We share common goals in enhancing Web3 experiences in valuable ecosystems, specifically, developing markets like Africa and Asia.  We are currently integrating Cardano support for NFTs on our marketplace, which as it stands is the #1 Web3 marketplace in Africa. The Adaverse team’s knowledge of the Cardano blockchain will prove invaluable as we continue our development. Cardano’s well-established base in these regions and its fast, near-zero fees make it an ideal blockchain for Momint to support on the marketplace.”

Vincent Li, a founding partner at Adaverse, added: “The Cardano ecosystem in Africa is one of the most exciting areas in all blockchain, and we’re eager to support the Momint team expand into it. We’re confident that Momint can help onboard millions of users from Africa and around the world, and in doing so create new financial opportunities for people in emerging economies.”

Adaverse is a Cardano ecosystem accelerator launched by EMURGO Africa and Everest Ventures Group to help the next generation of African Web3 startups excel on the global front. Established as an alchemist for organically grown solutions, we assist startups to grow sustainable businesses on the continent, through funding and a 1:1 mentorship program. Our accelerator program is open to applications all year round from African-based startups with a crypto-native edge and a proven concept.

To apply for the Adaverse accelerator program, click here.

To learn more about Momint, visit their website.

Emurgo, a global blockchain technology company to host Cardano Blockchain Founders Hangout (BFH) in Abuja among Nigerian entrepreneurs on September 25, 2022.

According to the company, the Cardano event connects and identifies young Africans developing the next wave of socially impactful solutions using Web3.0 tools.

However, among the organisers are Vincent Li and Chuta Chimezie, both partners at Adaverse, who will be in Abuja on Sunday to meet with entrepreneurs, startups, blockchain developers, and other company representatives to hold discussions about the challenges faced by African Web3 startups and to offer solutions for all your startup needs.

According to the company, the event will highlight ground-breaking Web3 projects in Africa, Adaverse portfolio companies, Emurgo Africa’s investment goals, and how young entrepreneurs can get support for startup growth.

Read also: Over half of reported bitcoin trades are fake – Report

Recently, the BFH 1.0 was launched in Lagos Nigeria this year by Cardano accelerator Adaverse in partnership with Emurogo Africa. to drive Cardano awareness across the country and Africa at large,

During the event, the company recorded a huge gathering of over 200 attendees in Lagos – including startup founders in Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, cryptocurrency enthusiasts, blockchain evangelists, policy experts, and press media, among others, who were passionate about building a thriving digitally-relevant economy in Africa.

Adaverse, a Cardano-focused joint accelerator venture, has announced a strategic investment in Diagon Studios, a Nigerian gaming technology company focused on the development and distribution of hyper-casual games, utility, and NFTs through simple play-to-earn (P2E) models. 

Adaverse was launched in September 2021 as a joint venture partnership between EMURGO Africa and Everest Ventures, to identify and provide valuable support resources to promising African founders building the next wave of Web3 dApps in DeFi, NFTs, gaming, metaverse, and more on Cardano’s environmentally-sustainable blockchain. EMURGO Africa is one of the investment arms of EMURGO, a founding entity of the Cardano blockchain.

What is Diagon Studios?

Diagon Studios is a Nigerian blockchain GameFi platform focused on deploying P2E hyper-casual games on the blockchain to help break barriers in the Web3 gaming industry. Founded by Jeremiah Onojah, a seasoned engineer with years of experience building solutions in the Web2 and Web3 spaces, Diagon Studios bridges the gap between work and play by introducing the unique value of blockchain and digital assets with a multifunctional dApp (decentralized application). Diagon intends to scale its platform and issue digital tokens on the Cardano blockchain, one of the largest blockchain networks by market capitalization. 

Diagon believes that video games should remain highly entertaining, less complex, and readily accessible while offering realistic earning prospects for everyone with a mobile phone.  

Presently, Diagon Studios is rebranding its model with the deployment of some additional features to bring users a complete blockchain experience. Having launched the first version of the product which scaled up to 3,000 active users, the product is looking to serve as a mainstream collection of casual games, creating a platform where gamers can play casual games in all their glory. One of the key offerings at Diagon Studios will be the instant reward system through the Diagon Tokens (DGN), redeemable at every milestone completed and made accessible to all users, including novice gamers and experts.

Additional features to be deployed within the Diagon ecosystem will include Diagon Shop-and-Refill, a crypto-powered platform that will support the trade of gift cards, purchase of data subscriptions, and gaming assets. Crypto payments for online courses, E-books, gadgets, etc, will also be supported. The rebranding process will also feature the deployment of Diagon Ads Vista, a platform where users will be able to subscribe to ads of their choosing. As the model scales, an NFT Marketplace where everyone can own a piece of the metaverse as both creators and collectors of digital collectibles will also be created. 

Why Diagon Studios? 

The GameFi industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in blockchain and Web3 that is garnering a lot of competition and pushing the crypto market volume. However, globally-popular P2E games are becoming quite expensive and complex to play for mid-level gamers and newbies. By introducing a variety of casual games with an easy-to-use interface, Diagon Studios critically lowers the entry barrier into Web3 for everyone across the globe. 

In contrast to the traditional video game market with dwindling revenue, predicted to plunge further in the following years, blockchain P2E games have made giant leaps in the last few years, recording significant growth of over 2000% in 2021. The revolutionary development of cryptocurrency enabled a unique P2E in-game economy where players can extract value from their whole gaming experience, and convert it into a significant source of income. With this trajectory, the blockchain gaming market is projected to rise from an estimated $1.5 billion in 2021 to a staggering $50 billion by 2025, boosting worldwide gaming revenue and creating new financial opportunities for more people to access the Web3 economy.

Shogo Ishida, co-CEO at EMURGO Africa, said, “Focused on hyper-casual gaming that takes out complexity from the gameplay, Diagon Studios is one of the game publishers that stands on the cusp of opening the African space to the realities of play-to-earn and we are glad to be offering the startup a launchpad and the opportunity to build on Cardano”.

Jeremiah Onojah (Founder and CEO)

Commenting on the partnership with Adaverse, Diagon Studios Founder and CEO, Jeremiah Onojah stated that “The Cardano blockchain will offer a better approach to securing transactions for the Diagon project with its eco-friendly platform and large global community. Diagon intends to issue tokens on the Cardano blockchain in the future development stage. With the support of EMURGO Africa and Adaverse, we will be able to do more with the Cardano blockchain. The Diagon studios team will work intensely with Adaverse to be in the best possible shape, hitting the perfect market fit and scaling her products”.

Beyond play-to-earn (P2E) games, the Diagon platform will connect a virtual community of global casual gamers to develop their skills, network, and access more opportunities in Web3 through partnership programs, especially for DGN token holders who will also have staking and governance rights in the platform.

“This startup is all about demystifying the Web3 gaming system in Africa by reaching the grassroots level and providing affordable options targeting low-income earners, to ensure more people find something that interests and pays them while building on a reliable infrastructure. Diagon will be one of the pillars of Africa’s digital future and Adaverse is glad to support this project”, said Vincent Li, founding partner at Adaverse.

About Adaverse

Adaverse is a catalyst for the Cardano ecosystem in Africa, dedicated to investing, mentoring, and providing standardised tech support for organically grown startups building the next wave of Web3 decentralized applications, including NFTs, DeFi, and others on Cardano’s third-generation blockchain.

Since its launch in 2021, through a joint venture partnership between EMURGO Africa and Everest Ventures, Adaverse has concluded strategic investments in over fifteen (15) crypto-native startups and aims to support more promising game-changing solutions in the African ecosystem. Through periodic physical meetups and the 3-months intensive accelerator program for startup founders, Adaverse aims to be a launchpad for the Cardano-focused projects springing up across Africa, and the Middle East to usher in the rapidly emerging digitally reliant global economy.

Adaverse is open to applications from founders all year round. Apply for funding here. 

To start earning from easy-to-play games, visit the Diagon Studios website.   

The executives of EMURGO and Adaverse hosted founders and members of blockchain communities and media at the Blockchain Founders Hangout 2.0 on Monday, August 15, 2022.

The hangout brought together founders, potential founders, and investors from EMURGO and Adaverse and created an avenue for networking and sharing ideas. Founders had the opportunity to briefly pitch their ideas and engage the EMURGO and Adaverse teams. 

In attendance were Shogo Ishida, Executive Director for Middle East and Africa, EMURGO Africa; Yosuke Yoshida, Co-CEO for Middle East and Africa, EMURGO Africa; William Phelps, Adaverse Investment Manager; Hiroshi Yokoyama, Growth Partner, Cardano Africa; Chimezie Chuta, Adaverse Partner, and other members of the EMURGO and Adaverse teams. 

Chimezie Chuta gave the opening remark and spoke about how blockchain technology can transform lives and how that led to the founding of Adaverse, a Cardano Ecosystem Accelerator focused on providing funding to blockchain-oriented startups in Africa.

Chuta said they have done their research and are looking at the areas where people can get funding, saying that beyond funding, Adaverse also teaches people other things they need to grow their startup via an accelerator programme. 

Yosuke Yoshida gave a brief lecture on the Cardano Foundation and EMURGO. According to him, Cardano is a third-generation blockchain. Ranked sixth in the crypto market cap, it is an open-source proof-of-stake blockchain project launched in 2015 to address existing challenges in cryptocurrency design and development. 

Yoshida said the Cardano blockchain is solving the issues of scalability, interoperability, and sustainability better than other blockchains, adding that the goal of the Cardano Foundation is to be the leading project for the next decade. 

He discussed the development benefits and advantages of the Cardano blockchain over most blockchains and listed some of EMURGO’s products, including the Yoroi Wallet and Fibo, Cardano’s open-source NFT marketplace. 

Shogo Ishida came on stage after Yoshida to discuss EMURGO’s activities in Africa. 

He spoke on how founders can get funding from venture capital (VC) firms. Before adding that VCs have to benefit when they invest, he said, “the first thing you should know is that VCs have their interests and motivation when they want to invest.” 

Ishida said that one of the challenges of VCs in Nigeria and Africa is the lack of credit score or identification. 

He said, “as VCs, we have a very strong interest in expanding in Africa.” According to him, this is reinforced by the many creative products they have seen from this part of the world.

Ishida spoke about one of their recent investments, AfriBlocks — a pan-African freelance marketplace based in Zimbabwe.

Using AfriBlocks’ success story as an example, Ishida said people seeking funding should have a clear and concise mission statement. Secondly, he said that the solutions to the problems businesses are trying to solve must align. Also, the projects should match their achievements with milestones shown as evidence. He concluded by advising founders to have a team with members whose careers are relevant to what they are building.

Buttressing Ishida’s point about founders having a team, William Phelps said that investors are not likely to invest if there is no team.  

He also advised founders not to rush to get funding but instead first grow organically. According to him, bootstrapped projects show more promise to investors than projects that are not bootstrapped.

He said founders should always ask themselves if it is the right time to give away equity. He concluded by advising the founders present to know their projects, be clear about what they are looking for in terms of funding, and exercise patience. 

Founders who need funding are encouraged to send pitch deck to https://www.f6s.com/adaverse-accelerator/apply 

About Adaverse 

Adaverse is a catalyst for the Cardano ecosystem in Africa dedicated to invest, mentor and provide tech support for organically grown startups building the next wave of Web3 decentralized applications including NFTs, DeFi, and others on Cardano’s third-generation blockchain. visit website – www.adaverse.co