Lisk, a Switzerland-based blockchain growth platform, has launched the EMpower Fund, a $15 million venture capital program designed to support Web3 startups in underserved markets. The fund is directed at founders in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, regions where blockchain adoption is gaining pace but investment remains scarce.
Lisk highlighted that in 2022, less than five percent of global venture capital flowed into these economies, despite their growing demand for digital finance and infrastructure solutions. The EMpower Fund aims to bridge this gap by providing direct investment and advisory support to early-stage founders addressing pressing real-world challenges, including payments, identity, supply chains, and agriculture.
How the Fund Operates
Startups will receive initial checks between $250,000 and $750,000, with about 30% of the fund set aside for follow-on investments. Alongside capital, Lisk will provide hands-on support in governance, investor-grade financial modeling, fundraising strategy, and global pitch preparation.
The initiative also introduces a tokenized venture structure. Investor onboarding, compliance, and ownership stakes will be represented on-chain, ensuring transparency and potentially enabling secondary liquidity. This approach aligns with Lisk’s broader mission to integrate blockchain principles into every layer of its ecosystem.
The fund has already backed four startups:
- Lov. cash – a South African supply chain and payments platform.
- Afrikabal – an agritech marketplace empowering smallholder farmers.
- IDRX – an Indonesian stablecoin project improving financial access.
- SigraFi – a platform issuing tokenized loan notes to support small gold producers.
These projects illustrate Lisk’s thesis that emerging market founders are creating solutions with everyday utility, not speculation.
Lisk notes that emerging markets have historically delivered higher growth returns than many developed economies. By remaining chain-agnostic, the fund will also welcome founders building on Ethereum, Solana, and other networks.
With EMpower, Lisk is expanding from grants and incubation into full-scale venture investment, positioning itself as a key player in bringing Web3 innovation to high-growth, underfunded regions.
Gideon Greaves, Head of Investment at Lisk, emphasized this point, noting:
“Global VCs have become obsessed with speculation. In high-growth markets, the opposite is true. Founders are solving real problems with real utility, and that is where the next unicorns will come from.”
Beyond capital, EMpower integrates blockchain-native processes into the fund itself. Tokenization will be used for onboarding, compliance, and ownership representation, offering transparency and potentially enabling secondary liquidity, a feature rare in traditional venture funds.
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