Hashgraph Ventures has pledged $1 million to the Hedera Africa Hackathon, adding fresh capital to one of the continent’s largest developer programmes as investors test whether Web3 and AI talent in Africa can convert into investable startups.
The pledge lifts total equity commitments tied to the hackathon to $2 million after support from United Gulf Financial Services, alongside a separate $1 million prize pool funded by The Hashgraph Association and the Exponential Science Foundation. Selected teams will be reviewed for follow-on investment.
The timing reflects growing pressure on early stage funds to find credible deal flow in Africa’s Web3 space, where developer activity often outpaces available capital. Hackathons have become a filtering tool, giving investors early exposure to teams before company formation.
Hashgraph Ventures is regulated under Abu Dhabi Global Market, a structure meant to appeal to institutional backers wary of looser crypto funding models. The fund focuses on blockchain, AI and other deep tech projects that show a clear path to real-world use.
Kamal Youssefi, president of The Hashgraph Association, said the commitment signals confidence in Africa’s developer base and in Hedera’s distributed ledger as a platform for scalable applications.
For founders, the draw goes beyond prize money. Dara Campbell, senior executive officer at Hashgraph Ventures, said the fund plans to open its network across the Middle East, the US and Asia to teams that stand out during the programme.
The Hedera Africa Hackathon ran from August to October 2025 across more than 20 cities, combining online and in-person events. Organisers say over 13,000 developers registered, producing about 1,300 project submissions spanning finance, health, telecoms, agriculture and manufacturing. Many projects explored overlaps between AI, data infrastructure and decentralised systems.
