Adaverse, a Cardano ecosystem accelerator founded to boost the development of Web3-based solutions in Africa, has unveiled its participation in a fundraising round for Stakefair, a Decentralised Finance (DeFi) staking platform building an ecosystem of gaming products with digital assets on Cardano, the largest environmentally-sustainable and proof-of-stake blockchain. The recently concluded seed fund round aggregated prominent investors including EMURGO Africa, Adaverse, Timi Ajiboye, Tomiwa Olaosebikan, Peter Kisadha, Nestcoin, Kepple Africa Ventures, Canza Finance, Voltron Capital, and Echo VC Chain.
Adaverse was launched in September 2021 as a joint venture partnership between one of EMURGO’s investment arms, EMURGO Africa and Everest Ventures, to identify and provide valuable support resources to promising African founders building the next wave of Web3 dApps in DeFi, NFTs, gaming, metaverse, and more on Cardano’s third-generation blockchain.
What is Stakefair
Stakefair is a DeFi staking platform bridging the gap between blockchain and real-life experiences for predictive wins. Stakefair allows users to bet on the outcome of sports matches and other real-world events and also have a chance to earn money by staking digital currency. Users predict the outcome of events and stake on a particular outcome. If the prediction is wrong, users get their original stakes back. If the prediction is right, the payout is calculated based on the amount they staked, the total odds carried, and the day of the week they staked. Having seen an upsurge in the sports betting industry, Stakefair harnesses Web3 and DeFi tools to maximize data for bettors on the continent.
Founded in 2021 as BetDemand by Akinyemi Akindele, Stakefair has evolved beyond sports betting and intends to revolutionize predictive games on the African continent and beyond. Having completed its first seed round, Stakefair has transitioned to its mainnet, offering a bouquet of Web3 products accessible to both B2C and B2B enterprises, including a Metaverse collection, a stand-alone aggregator, and DeFi infrastructure for Dapp protocols which will be launched on Cardano’s third-generation blockchain.
Cardano’s environmentally-sustainable smart contract platform with fast and deterministic fees allows Stakefair to build its gaming engine and provide quick settlement of events on Cardano’s blockchain. It also allows Stakefair to bring its lending and borrowing platform to Cardano’s expanding Web3 ecosystem and large global community. The mentors and resources that EMURGO Africa and Adaverse provide to build on Cardano is also a strategic advantage.
Why Stakefair
In the race to make DeFi more relatable for the end-user, especially in the sports betting space, Stakefair is exemplifying the true spirit of accessibility that Web3 infrastructures aim to achieve.
Sports betting is a continent-wide phenomenon in Africa with Nigeria, Stakefair’s prime target represents the largest betting market in sub-Saharan Africa, and comfortably accounts for 7% of the continent total betting shares and over $2 billion a year on betting.
In 2022, the global sports betting market is expected to reach $99.20 billion and is forecasted to grow to $350 billion by 2024. Despite the immense size, popularity, and potential of the sports betting market, it has been characterized by incumbents charging high fees and delivering minimal product innovation. Stakefair is setting a new standard on trust in betting, having attracted over 6,000 users from Africa, Europe, and North America, and recorded over $800,000 in stakes since its launch.
Shogo Ishida, co-CEO for the Middle East & Africa at EMURGO Africa, lauded the Stakefair initiative and commented, “Seeing the impact of sports betting on the African continent and the continued rise across the planet, an extraordinary Web3 solution that bridges the gap between financial responsibility by reducing risk while maintaining the thrill of betting is a venture we are pleased to support to scale”.
Founder and CEO of Stakefair, Akinyemi Akindele said “Our mission is to onboard the next 1 billion users into DeFi and we are excited to have Adaverse with us on this journey. Stakefair is building much more than the B2C DeFi gaming products. We have also built the DeFi infrastructure that allows other developers to build DeFi apps like ours for use cases such as no-loss staking, treasury management, yield aggregation, wallets, and market-making”.
“Stakefair is demystifying DeFi with a much-needed GameFi infrastructure that financially empowers both retail and enterprise users. Africa is fertile for such products that are risk-insured and Adaverse will support Stakefair as it develops its next phase with tools on Cardano’s environmentally-sustainable blockchain”, said Vincent Li, founding partner at Adaverse.
About Adaverse
Adaverse is a catalyst for the Cardano ecosystem in Africa dedicated to investing, mentoring, and providing tech support for organically grown startups building the next wave of Web3 decentralized applications including NFTs, DeFi, and others on Cardano’s third-generation blockchain.
Since its launch in 2021, through a joint venture partnership between EMURGO Africa and Everest Ventures, Adaverse has concluded strategic investment in thirteen (13) crypto-native startups and aims to support more promising game-changing solutions in the African ecosystem.
Adaverse is open to applications from founders all year round. Apply for funding here.
For more information visit the Stakefair website.
