Each of the shortlisted projects will receive a share of funding between $5,000 and $100,000 (disbursed in $USDC) along with technical and go-to-market support. This project is a testament to an important trend of African crypto startups, especially, securing early-stage funding.

The five African projects selected to join Cohort 4 are Flipeet Raise, LINK, Scalex, SFx and Katika. Circle's grants program aims to bolster teams constructing real-world blockchain applications utilizing Circle's developer stack. This announcement reflects the St. Louis region’s best performance in the competitive program to date. Since the program launched in 2023, it has provided grants to more than 60 teams around the world.

The increasing representation of African startups in Circle's grant program highlights the continent's growing prominence in the blockchain space. Only one African startup made it through to the second round. Currently, three are blazing the trail in Cohort 3, and five have graduated in the fourth cohort, showcasing an exciting wave of novel blockchain-powered solutions from Africa.

Circle’s initiative is an illustrative example of a much larger trend. Ecosystem grants have become a critical source of seed funding, especially in markets such as Africa, as typical venture capital firms withdraw their investments.

The applicants’ creativity and ambition pushed us to dig deeper and ultimately select the projects we believe will move the industry forward. - Circle

Circle is going beyond USDC Developer Grants alone. In addition to its financing, the company is funding education campaigns and knowledge transfer, sponsoring conferences, and investing in African startups such as Sorted Wallet, MANSA, and Shiga.

Whether it’s through greater adoption of stablecoins or other real-world crypto use cases — Africa is experiencing a crypto revolution. This increasing dependence is fueling activity in the region’s blockchain ecosystem. USDC and USDT are the leading stablecoins by market value in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa. Their importance cannot be overstated as they underpin remittances, savings and B2B cross-border trade today.

While Circle’s USDC is growing rapidly, Tether’s USDT has blazed the trail and has built a dominant position in emerging markets, Africa included.

We Have 400 Million Users in Emerging Markets – We’re Basically Pushing Dollar Hegemony, Selling U.S Debt Outside the U.S. - Tether CEO

While USDC has a more grassroots approach and relatively widespread adoption, USDC adoption is accelerating across multiple use cases throughout the region in more ways than one.

The USDC Developer Grants program is a great example of Circle’s commitment to seeding innovation and powering real-world applications of blockchain technology. Through its financial support and technical assistance, Circle helps African developers. This further empowers these youth innovators to build innovative solutions that address their community challenges and grow the continent’s digital economy.