Congo crypto startup raises $30mln, plans expansion across Africa

Congo-based cryptocurrency startup Jambo has raised $30 million in a Series-A funding, led by San Francisco-based investment firm Paradigm. Several investors including ParaFi Capital, Pantera Capital, Delphi Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Gemini Frontier Fund, BH Digital, Graticule Asset Management Asia, Shima Capital and Morningstar Ventures participated in the funding round. Jambo, founded in 2021 by Congo-born Chinese James Zhang and his sister, seeks to build Africa’s web3 user acquisition portal through “learn, play, earn”. To promote the adoption of Web3, Jambo has already opened offices all over Africa and partnered with thousands of internet cafes and college booths, according to a statement posted on the company’s twitter account on Tuesday. The fresh funds are expected to help the company accelerate Web3 adoption and double its team across Africa. The investment will also be used to hire engineers who can build the company’s Web3 app that Africans can eventually use to trade crypto-currency, buy and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and have access to top notch Web3 applications that Jambo will be brining to the continent, said the statement. According to the New York-based blockchain data platform Chainalysis, Africa’s cryptocurrency market had grown over 1,200 percent from 2020 to 2021. Also, several African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania, all ranked among the top twenty on the Global Crypto Adoption Index. Fintech stands as one of the fastest growing and most attractive sectors in Africa. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, the fintech industry attracted 54 percent of the total $1 billion startup funding invested in the continent, startup data platform Magnitt said. Last year, fintech startups secured 62 percent of the total startup funding in the continent, which was estimated at $ 4.9 billion, according to Briter Bridges, a leading platform for startup funding in Africa. (Reporting by Noha El Hennawy; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com)

Congo crypto startup raises $30mln, plans expansion across Africa

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