The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) recently announced the launch of a $30 million matching fund geared toward providing support for projects developing new applications on the Stellar network.
In an official press release shared with Coinfomania on Tuesday, the fund will give early-stage companies access to additional capital they need to build blockchain-based solutions.
The fund will co-invest in the selected projects along with several other investors globally and will match investments of up to $500,000.
The Matching Fund is a part of the SDF’s Enterprise Fund and is targeted at supporting new or existing Stellar ecosystem projects in markets where capital is not easily accessible or adequate.
Speaking on the latest development, Head of Investments at SDF, Andrea Lo said,
“The Matching Fund is a way for SDF to promote early-stage experimentation for real-world use cases that provide value to more consumers. In 2022, we’re putting our funding behind more innovators in geographies that need blockchain-powered solutions. The Stellar ecosystem is working to address challenges like inflation, affordable remittances, and the high cost of capital — and we’re investing in solutions to these problems through the Matching Fund.”
The Fund Onboards Four Inaugural Projects
The SDF also announced that it has selected four companies working on different markets and use cases to benefit from the first set of investments in the Fund.
The beneficiaries include Trace Finance, a cross-border payment platform that helps startups in Latin America to gain access to funding via stablecoins. The next is Bitwage, a blockchain-based platform that provides payroll, invoicing and benefits services to freelancers, with a focus on Latin America.
Another project is Afriex, a payments app that provides remittance payments in African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda. The last one is FanVector, a crowdfunding platform that
Speaking in a comment, SDF’s CEO and Executive Director Denelle Dixon said,
“We need to be more nimble and inclusive in order to truly build an industry that reaches more people with better access to financial services. The way we choose to fund and support companies in their early days is a big part of that, and at SDF, we are very intentionally building out and incentivizing investments in real use cases of blockchain that help everyday people.”
SDF has continued its conscious efforts to drive the development of innovative blockchain solutions and take the revolutionary technology mainstream. Last year, it joined the Association of Ukrainian Banks.
