🧵 Inside the Lisk EMpower Fund We’re rethinking how capital meets high-growth markets—sourced through local incubators, shaped by on-the-ground context, and built shoulder-to-shoulder with founders solving daily problems. Here’s what sets it apart 👇

Builder momentum is real across Africa, SEA, and LatAm—but funding lags. <5% of global VC reaches these regions, so traction outpaces capital. That gap slows the best teams.

Why the miss? Money goes where paperwork feels familiar—not where onchain use is everyday life. The result: a “capital gap” in the very markets adopting fastest.

Our take: fix the model, not the founders. We built a local-first pipeline + staged capital + hands-on prep—so strong teams become investor-ready and scale globally.

How the pipeline works: Incubators + in-market partners feed pre-vetted deal flow long before it hits traditional VC. We meet founders early, in context.

Simple, staged funding: Incubation → $250K seed → up to $500K follow-on → Series A readiness. Clear gates, real milestones, no guesswork.

Beyond the check: We work side-by-side on investor-grade models & data rooms, governance, product metrics, and fundraising strategy—so traction translates to global capital.

Onchain by design: A part of the Lisk EMpower Fund runs onchain which allows for transparent records, easy digital onboarding, and—where supported—the option to resell tokenized interests. Less paperwork, more clarity.

What we back: 💸 Payments & remittances 🔗 Supply chains 🪪 Identity 💰 Access to finance If it solves a real problem, we want to hear it.

Rails that scale: Build on Lisk’s Ethereum-aligned L2 and tap the Optimism Superchain—shared tooling, visibility, and collaboration alongside @Optimism, @Base, and @modenetwork

Lisk has been building since 2016. The Lisk EMpower Fund is the new chapter that backs utility with structure and support. Full story →