Private Swiss venture firm Crypto Valley Venture Capital prefers to be called CV VC.

CV VC announced Monday at Davos the launch of its African Blockchain Early-Stage Fund to bring the advantages of the blockchain and its own expertise to enable Africa to transact and interact for the well-being of its people and economies.

The firm is seeking to build on its track record of investing in 12 startups where blockchain use cases extended past cryptocurrencies to drive Africa’s future.

“As the world enters the decade of the fourth industrial revolution, building on blockchain as a transformative tech, it is worth recanting the main theme of this year’s WEF, ‘Working Together and Restoring Trust’, ” said Mathias Ruch, Co-Founder of CV VC. “This is what CV VC intends to do with other drivers in Africa.”

The blockchain and Africa

CV VC observes that the blockchain is powering Africa from the bottom-up and that essential industries including agriculture, mining, remittances, inclusion, identity, and property, were adopting blockchain technology.

Yet, blockchain funding in the continent was only miniscule: “Funding of $127 million in all of 2021 is similar in size to a single blockchain ‘mega-deal’ of which there were 59 globally.”

However, there were encouraging signs in that African blockchain companies raised $91 million in Q1 of 2022, an impressive 1,668% YoY increase from Q1 of the previous year.

Regulatory progress and the fast adoption of crypto also augured well for the uptake of the blockchain in Africa.

CV VC plans to set up the first-ever, blockchain-focused Accelerator for Africa in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

This Accelerator aims to fund 100 startups over the next four years.

African Blockchain Report

CV VC also issued on the occasion the inaugural African Blockchain Report in collaboration with Standard Bank.

“Many Africans cannot rely on vast, centralized, regulated infrastructural systems,” said CV VC. “They are often riddled with inefficiencies and red tape in the cases where they exist. As a result, innovation is blessed with a clean slate on which to paint, and progressive advances seem to follow.”

According to CV VC, Africa has self-accelerated blockchain as a transformative force for society and the economy.

Related Story: Crypto in Africa; Revolution or Mirage?