Angolan crowdfunding startup Deya has secured its first round of pre-seed financing of more than US$50,000 to help it further develop its platform and start generating revenue.
Founded in 2017, Deya is the first crowdfunding platform in Angola, or indeed any other Portuguese-speaking African country. The startup aims to boost access to finance for social impact causes, and so far has helped such projects raise more than AOA15 million (US$22,000).
Later this year it will also start facilitating crowdfunding campaigns for entrepreneurial projects, and to this end has raised an undisclosed amount of investment, though the total is more than US$50,000, from a group of local angel investors. The round will enable Deya to further develop its platform, improve user experience, and start to generate revenue.
“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,” said Deya chief executive officer (CEO) Vanda de Oliveira.
“The beauty of crowdfunding is the possibility for individuals, companies and organisations to be able to raise funds without the intermediation of banks or other traditional financing institutions, and 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.”
