Stax receives $500,000 from SDF Fund to enable borderless payment in Africa

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has invested $500,000 in Stax, a universal money app developed by Hover Developer Services, Inc via its Matching Fund.

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In March 2022, SDF launched a $30 Million Matching Fund to power startups leveraging blockchain. The Fund is for pre-seed to Series B companies interested in building on the Stellar blockchain

According to SDF, the funds will support Stax in building an affordable, borderless mobile wallet on the Stellar blockchain. Stax allows users to buy airtime, send and request money, and transfer funds between accounts via automated USSD codes.

"We are excited to integrate with Stellar to bring our vision of an offline payment superapp to life," Ben Lyon, CEO of Hover Developer Services, Inc., said. "Together [with SDF], we plan to make the dollar digital currency, USDC on Stellar and many other tokens broadly available to smartphone users with limited mobile data connectivity across Africa. As with our existing service, Stax’s multi-token wallet will be non-custodial, meaning we have zero access to user funds."

By utilizing USSD codes, Stax permits its users to avoid the high costs associated with the use of mobile data and improves its users’ access to digital financial services. Seeing the challenges with borderless payments, Stax intends to make USD Coin (USDC), a fully-reserved dollar digital currency, on Stellar more accessible to users who want a secure place to hold their money, access global investment opportunities, and participate in borderless commerce.

Related Article: Using USSD-technology, Stax wants to increase financial inclusivity for Africans

Stax intends to bring convenience to the movement of funds within Africa, and between Africa and the world, through USDC on Stellar. For Stax users, USDC provides a great entry point into the world of crypto, where Stax aims to help them protect their hard-earned money in pursuit of financial freedom.

According to Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, "Hover's Stax app offers a more user-friendly, low-friction solution for customers who want to leverage USSD technology to buy airtime and access financial services. They identified a local problem and solved it using blockchain technology. This is exactly the type of solution the Matching Fund was created to support, and we’re thrilled for Stax users to discover the speed and accessibility of assets on Stellar."

SDF launched a blockchain bootcamp with DFS Lab to support the blockchain-oriented ideas of African developers and startups. In 2021, Stax participated in the bootcamp and was awarded $15,000 for its plans to make USDC accessible to data-conscious smartphone users. SDF is now providing additional support with a $500,000 investment in Hover Developer Services, Inc.

This is coming months after Stax announced a Seed extension round of $2.2 million from World Within Ventures, Noemis Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, Orange DAO, Manhattan West, Decentralized VC and others, joining Anthemis Group, 500 Startups, Garuda Ventures, GAN Ventures and numerous angels on the cap table.

Stax said that it currently supports 100+ bank and mobile wallet services across 10 African countries and aspires to expand further. They plan to go-to-market with the non-custodial USDC wallet on the Stellar blockchain by the end of 2022, with the goal of becoming a multi-asset web3 wallet by the end of 2023. Stax is building a gateway for Africans to spend and store their money without barriers.