Kenyan web 3 start-up gets nod for Draper VeChain accelerator

A Kenyan digital assets capacity building and management forum is among the first African start-ups to qualify for the Draper VeChain Web 3 accelerator, a 12-week programme for high-growth blockchain companies.

The Crypsense Digital Group pitched against some of the world’s fastest growing Web 3 start-ups in cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens, the Metaverse, GameFi and DeFi. On the judging panel were experts from VeChain, a top-tier layer-one blockchain, Draper University and Cream.

Founded by Timothy Draper, a globally recognised venture capital investor, Draper University is a leading pre-accelerator and incubator in Silicon Valley that fosters growth of high-potential technology start-ups. Among others, Draper has invested in Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter, Coinbase, Skype and Baidu. To date, the university has graduated more than 1 000 start-up founders raising nearly $350 million in early-stage funding.

Meanwhile, VeChain offers global enterprise solutions and derives its value from activities by members within the ecosystem solving real-world economic problems. Through a collaborative approach, start-ups in blockchain and Web 3 have access to industry mentorship and support to globally scale their impactful solutions.

“This is an amazing opportunity to accelerate Web3 adoption in Africa through the programme and partnerships,” said Alice Anangi, co-founder and chief executive of the Crypsense Digital Group. “We have so much untapped talent and potential within our continent in blockchain and Web3. I am excited for Africa and I can’t wait to see where this opportunity takes us.”

Anangi said the group understood the immense potential that blockchain had in solving some of the challenges facing Africa. “We believe that we can use our disruptive nature as a continent to create value for ourselves through the adoption of the technology.”

Web 3 revolutionises start-ups

In a media release, Crypsense Digital Group is described as the first and fastest growing digital assets capacity building and management platform in Africa offering end-to-end solution for institutional adoption of blockchain and digital assets on the continent.

The organisation focuses on capacity building, asset management and custodial solutions, asset financing and an accelerator launchpad to support blockchain and crypto start-ups in Africa. The capacity building platform offers a learn-to-earn and play-to-earn learning management system for blockchain and cryptocurrency education.

Crypsense Digital Group is a brainchild of The Africa Blockchain Center, one of the start-ups at Adanian Labs, a venture studio that aims to establish, nurture, and scale 300 impact-driven tech start-ups across Africa.

The Africa Blockchain Center intends to demystify blockchain technology and establish platforms where businesses may learn, conduct research and development, launch blockchain solutions, and use blockchain as a service for a variety of applications across industries and sectors.

Adanian Labs chief executive John Kamara said, “We are extremely proud to see such progress with our start-ups. We pride ourselves in providing the right environment, tools and resources to support start-ups and help them build scalable solutions. Crypsense Digital Group is very timely as Africa is exploring the potential for smart technologies in support of its 4IR efforts.”

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