Deya, an Angola-based crowdfunding platform, has closed an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding, bringing the total financing to over US$50,000. With this round, the startup will further scale its platform, improve user experience, and start generating revenue.
Launched in 2017, Deya is the first of its kind in Angola or any other Portuguese-speaking African nation for that matter. The startup seeks to increase financial access for social impact causes by becoming the quick and safe meeting point between fund-raisers and donors.
Since its inception, Deya has helped such projects raise more than AOA15 million (an equivalent of US$22,000). Currently operating in the donation and reward models, the platform plans to implement crowdfunding campaigns for entrepreneurial projects later this year.
This is to allow innovative startups and SMEs to secure funding through this collective financing modality.
Going by a study of the World Bank (2013) which revealed that there is an opportunity for more than 344 million people in emerging countries to participate in crowdfunding services, and the African continent has an untapped market potential of $ 2.5bn by 2025, the reason for Deya’s forging ahead becomes crystal clear.
Expressing his delight is Vanda de Oliveira, Deya’s chief executive officer (CEO); he said,
“I am thrilled about the success of this financing round, as it lasted for almost a year until we closed negotiations with investors on this round.
This pre-seed financing is important because it will allow us to develop new intellectual property for the platform and expand Deya’s products offer so that its users can get the most value possible, and thus enabling us greater exponential growth.”
“The beauty of crowdfunding is the possibility for individuals, companies, and organizations to be able to raise funds without the intermediation of banks or other traditional financing institutions.
In this potential, we are working to become a reference platform in this sector for Sub-Saharan Africa in the next five years. This funding is the first phase to reach this goal.”, he added.
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