SenexHub, Nigeria’s first Web3 incubator hub, hosted 14 fast-rising startups using Web3 technology to provide solutions to problems that affect Africans during the Lagos Web3 Demo Day on the 22nd of June.
Companies involved in Cryptocurrency, the Metaverse, Defi, Blockchain, DAOs, Gaming, Hardware, and NFTs were present at the event and pitched their products to investors, industry leaders, experts, and enthusiasts across Africa as they sought to raise funds and receive insight that would help them scale. The event was moderated by Instagram sensation, Deji Onadeko
The companies that pitched at the Lagos Web3 Demo day include Quiver; which offers flexibility to loan, earn, and save cryptocurrencies, Blockride; which offers a fractionalised fleet of vehicle ownership, SenexPay; which leverages crypto to provide financial services, Blockops; which simplifies the process of setting up and managing blockchain nodes for startups and businesses, and CozyCove; a web3 mental-wellness platform that provides a safe, secure, and anonymous space for Africans to connect and meet entrepreneurs.
Others include Scalex, Felbeth, Regiz, Koinwa, Coinazer, PouchFi, Jesiah, SenexPay, and SaveFi.
Representatives from Lagos Innovates, the startup arm of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, Accion Venture Lab, Bessemer Venture Partners, GetEquity and other prominent investors attended the Lagos Web3 Demo Day virtually and physically to provide invaluable tips to these startups.
Read also: SenexHub set to host the Lagos Web3 Demo day this June
Hakeem Onasanya, the head of Lagos Innovates, in his remarks urged attendees and startup founders at the Lagos Web3 Demo to embrace collaboration with government regulators. Lagos Innovates is the division of the LSETF that helps the tech ecosystem, some of its programs include incubator hubs and mentorship for startup founders.
He stressed that better engagement between innovators and the government will help the latter to better understand their products and help the ecosystem with better regulation, which is the aim of the Nigeria Startup Act.
He assured that the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund is eager to help innovative startups and SMEs with all that they require to succeed. “If these startups are successful, they would create jobs by employing more individuals in the society which will help the LSETF with its objective of reducing unemployment in the state.
“We (government) depend on you (innovators) for what we do. When you do well and employ a hundred people in your startup, that’s a hundred fewer unemployed people”
Lagos Web3 demo day is the first of many to come
Damilare Fakorede, the VP of Growth and lead curator at SenexHub noted “This event will serve as a catalyst for driving the adoption of decentralized finance in Africa and positioning Lagos as a vibrant hub for Web3 innovation.”
In a conversation with Technext, Okeoghene Orhosere, Founder and CEO of Senexhub disclosed that the hub has existed for a little over a year but pledged a commitment to nurturing innovation, fostering collaboration, and supporting startups in the Web3 ecosystem.
We hope that the investors would fund a few of these startups and they (the startups) would get on some accelerator program and can go on to raise their seed round.
We intend to have this (demo day) as often as possible but this is the maiden edition. We started with Web3 because we are trying to push web3 education and adoption as most of the space is not aware of its usage and example.
Most people just think of Crypto when they hear Web3, they need to know that decentralisation is not just about finance, it is applicable in agriculture, governance, supply chain, medicine and many other walks of life.
Regarding the partnership with Lagos Innovates, SenexHub agrees that government can empower innovators financially or with moral support but they cannot do it alone. While the government can have statistical data to help regulation, they need organisations like SenexHub to serve as their eye in the space.
As the program concluded, a representative from GetEquity commended the founders that pitched at the Lagos Web3 Demo Day and urged them to focus on the solutions their products and services provide. Damilare Fakorede, VP of Growth at SenexHub expressed his gratitude to all the participants, speakers, partners, investors and attendees who contributed to the success of the Lagos Web3 Demo Day.
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