“Non-dilutive grants funding builders on the Celo blockchain, with a sustained, named African cohort spanning stablecoin payments, USSD-based crypto access, developer education, and MSME credit.”
Celo Foundation Grants fund builders on the Celo blockchain, which has positioned itself specifically around mobile-first, stablecoin-native financial infrastructure for emerging markets, making its grant program unusually well-aligned with African fintech founders relative to most Layer 1 ecosystem funds. The Wave 4 grant round distributed $9.35 million across 50 recipients globally, with named African winners including Binusu USSD (Uganda, building a USSD gateway to widen access to Uganda's oldest crypto exchange), Chimoney (API support for converting Celo's cUSD stablecoin into mobile money, airtime, and gift cards across 15 African countries), and Pezesha (Kenya, enabling affordable MSME credit via investment through Celo stablecoins), alongside named individual grantees Brian Ahimbisibwe and Jordan Muthemba for developer education and local ecosystem advocacy in Uganda.
The Celo Foundation has also run dedicated in-person Africa ecosystem events (the Celo Africa Web3 Fund inaugural event in Kenya, with a following stop in Nigeria) and brought in Unicorn Growth Capital and EchoVC as partners specifically to strengthen Celo's African ecosystem, signalling a standing commitment rather than a one-off grant round.