To spur Web3 and AI innovation, Hashgraph Ventures committed $1 M to Hedera Africa Hackathon
In an effort to accelerate digital transformation and economic inclusion throughout Africa, Abu Dhabi-based venture capital firm Hashgraph Ventures has committed US $1 million to the Hedera Africa Hackathon, the largest Web3 innovation event on the continent.
Hashgraph Ventures is a part of the Hashgraph Association, a non-profit organization in Switzerland that supports training, certification, and innovation programs for Hedera-powered solutions. Its mission is to support exceptional high-growth, early-stage ventures and projects that are developing practical blockchain, AI, and deep technology solutions.
In August and October of last year, developers, entrepreneurs, and students from over 20 African cities participated in the inaugural Hedera Africa Hackathon. With a strong emphasis on the convergence of AI, IoT, robotics, and quantum computing, participants were tasked with creating Hedera-powered solutions in important verticals such as finance, healthcare, telecom, sustainability, agriculture, and manufacturing.
The hackathon registered 13,000 developers and produced 1,300 project submissions by combining online and in-person participation, making it the biggest decentralized innovation project in African history.
United Gulf Financial Services’ (UGFS) involvement has increased the total equity investment commitments for the upcoming Hedera Africa Hackathon to US $2 million. The Hashgraph Association and Exponential Science Foundation have also contributed a US $1 million prize pool.
“We are pleased that Hashgraph Ventures will be pledging US $1 million to the Hedera Africa Hackathon as this not only reflects their commitment to support scalable, real-world adoption of DLT but also of the success that the Hedera Africa Hackathon has achieved becoming the largest Web3 hackathon globally,” said Kamal Youssefi, president of The Hashgraph Association.
“We believe Africa’s developer ecosystem holds immense potential to shape the future of decentralised finance, AI-driven innovation, and digital inclusion. The Hashgraph Association is keen to build the Web3 ecosystem across Africa and globally through partnerships such as the one with Hashgraph Ventures, Exponential Science, United Gulf Financial Services and others. This is just the beginning!”
