Hashgraph Ventures backs Africa’s largest Web3 Hackathon with $1 million commitment

Investment aims to strengthen the continent’s developer ecosystem and accelerate real-world adoption of blockchain and AI-driven solutions

Hashgraph Ventures has announced a US$1 million commitment to the next edition of the Hedera Africa Hackathon, reinforcing its strategy to support early-stage innovation and expand the practical use of emerging technologies across the continent.

Based in Abu Dhabi, the venture capital firm operates as part of the broader Hashgraph Association, a Swiss-based non-profit dedicated to advancing education, certification, and innovation programs built on the Hedera network. Through its investment arm, the organization focuses on backing high-growth startups and technical teams developing applied solutions in areas such as distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence, and advanced digital infrastructure.

The Hedera Africa Hackathon has quickly established itself as a major platform for decentralized innovation. Its inaugural edition, held between August and October last year, brought together developers, entrepreneurs, and students from more than 20 African cities to collaborate on technology-driven projects targeting industries including financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, sustainability, agriculture, and manufacturing. A defining feature of the initiative was its emphasis on the convergence of technologies such as AI, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and next-generation computing models.

By blending virtual participation with in-person events, the program attracted more than 13,000 developers and resulted in over 1,300 project submissions, positioning it as one of the largest distributed innovation efforts ever organized on the continent.

With additional backing from partners such as United Gulf Financial Services, total equity investment commitments tied to the upcoming hackathon have now reached US$2 million. This is complemented by a separate US$1 million prize pool supported by the Hashgraph Association and the Exponential Science Foundation, designed to help promising teams move from prototype to market-ready solutions.

According to Kamal Youssefi, president of the Hashgraph Association, the new funding reflects both confidence in Africa’s growing technology community and the role of the hackathon as a catalyst for scalable, real-world applications of decentralized technologies. He noted that partnerships between infrastructure providers, investors, and ecosystem builders are essential to turning local innovation into globally relevant platforms.

The initiative underscores a broader ambition shared by its organizers: to position Africa’s developer base as a driving force in shaping the future of Web3, AI-powered services, and inclusive digital economies, while creating pathways for startups to access capital, mentorship, and international networks.