Lisk to Shut Down Blockchain, Ending Its Africa-Focused Startup Push

The move brings an abrupt end to an emerging-markets strategy that had made Africa one of its most visible components. In 2025, Lisk launched a $15 million fund to support Web3 startups across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, describing the aim as backing companies solving real-world problems rather than speculative projects. According to BitKE, two of the four early recipients of the fund were African startups.

Lisk had hired regional leads and worked with accelerators and developer-training programmes to deploy capital into early-stage companies, TechCabal reported. Its investments included Azza, a Nigerian WhatsApp-based stablecoin payments company, and ClapMi, a Nigerian social-finance platform backed through an accelerator. The wider ecosystem also supported LovCash, a South African digital supply-chain startup, and Afrikabal, a Rwandan agriculture-focused company.

In February 2026, Nigerian crypto exchange Quidax partnered with Lisk to give developers access to stablecoins and local currencies through its infrastructure. That investment is now being wound down.

TechCabal reported that the shutdown could remove a funding pipeline for African early-stage Web3 startups at a time when venture capital for the sector is scarce. African blockchain startups raised $90.1 million in 2025, down 26.6% from the previous year, according to figures from Crypto Valley VC cited by TechCabal.

Chainalysis data shows the region as the world's fastest-growing crypto market, with stablecoins driving cheaper cross-border payments across Africa.