Nigerian startup building, operating, and investing in web3 applications, Nestcoin, has raised $6.45 million in pre-seed funding round.
Nestcoin will leverage the fund to expand its global operations and invest in more products to accelerate crypto adoption and financial freedom for people in frontier markets.
Yele Bademosi, who previously founded Microtraction, Binance and Bundle, alongside Taiwo Orilogbon, co-founded Nestcoin with the goal to democratise access to economic opportunities presented by crypto and web3, making it simple and accessible to everyday people.
Last year, the company launched Breach, its media arm created to advance crypto education globally, and Metaverse Magna (MVM), a crypto gaming guild that helps users earn up to $1,000 per month. Nestcoin also has several other products in the pipeline, designed to provide compelling use cases for crypto.
MVM has had over 2,000 applications since its launch. However, only 400 gamers are currently live on the platform, a number the company is looking to increase to 1,000 before next quarter – for context, some of the largest guilds have a player size of around 2,000 to 3,000.
The $6.45 million in funding comes from a global group of investors, including Distributed Global, Alter Global, Serena Ventures, Alameda Research, A&T Capital, MSA Capital, 4DX Ventures, Raba Capital, Goat.vc, Social Capital, Old Fashion Research, CMT Digital, Electric Capital, Social Capital, CoinFund, gumi Cryptos Capital, and DeFi Alliance, among others.
“We are excited that our investors are backing this ambitious plan to create a future where billions of people in frontier markets have access to the opportunities that crypto brings. With this financing, we will continue to grow our diverse team, which already spans nine countries, expand our product offerings, and invest in more ventures aligned with our vision,” Bademosi said.
Nestcoin also hopes to introduce its DeFi projects by Q2 this year. In addition to that, the company will be exploring ways in which content creators on the platform can earn crypto while educating its 6,000 subscribers with structured learning paths.
The company’s pre-seed round is the second-largest in Africa and largest in Nigeria as well as sub-Saharan Africa right now and will be used to develop more products and improve existing ones.