EMURGO and Adaverse Reiterate Their Commitment to Funding Blockchain-Oriented Startups at Blockchain Founders Hangout 2.0
The leaders of EMURGO and Adaverse hosted founders and members of the blockchain community 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. The founders had the opportunity to briefly present their ideas and engage the EMURGO and Adaverse teams.
In attendance were Shogo Ishida, Managing Director Middle East and Africa, EMURGO Africa; Yosuke Yoshida, Middle East and Africa Co-CEO, 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 remarks and talked about how blockchain technology can transform lives and how it led to the founding of Adaverse, a Cardano Ecosystem Accelerator focused on providing funding to blockchain-oriented startups in Africa.
Chuta said they have been researching and looking at the areas where people can get funding, and said that beyond funding, Adaverse is also learning other things they need to grow their startup through an accelerator program.
Yosuke Yoshida gave a short talk about the Cardano Foundation and EMURGO. According to him, Cardano is a third-generation blockchain. Ranked sixth in crypto market capitalization, it is an open source proof-of-stake blockchain project launched in 2015 to address existing challenges in cryptocurrency design and development.
Yoshida said that the Cardano blockchain solves the problems of scalability, interoperability and sustainability better than other blockchains, adding that the goal of the Cardano Foundation is to be the leading project in 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 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 talked about how founders can get funding from venture capital (VC) firms. Before adding that VCs must have advantages when investing, he said, “the first thing you should know is that VCs have their interests and motivations when they want to invest.”
Ishida said one of the challenges for VCs in Nigeria and Africa is the lack of credit scores 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 statement of purpose. Second, he said, the solutions to the problems businesses are trying to solve must match. The projects should also match their achievements with milestones shown as evidence. He concluded by advising entrepreneurs to have a team of members whose careers are relevant to what they are building.
William Phelps supported Ishida’s point that founders have a team, saying that investors are unlikely to invest if there is no team.
He also advised entrepreneurs not to rush to get funding, but instead to grow organically first. According to him, bootstrapped projects show more promise to investors than non-bootstrapped projects.
He said entrepreneurs should always ask themselves if it’s the right time to give away equity. He concluded by advising the entrepreneurs present to know their projects, be clear about what they are looking for in funding and exercise patience.
Entrepreneurs who need funding are encouraged to send pitch decks to
About Adaverse
Adaverse is a catalyst for the Cardano ecosystem in Africa, dedicated to investing, mentoring and providing technical support to 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
