With only 41 days remaining, Africa’s blockchain community is eagerly anticipating ABF 2026, scheduled for October 15th at the Sarit Center, where Antler and Launch Africa Ventures have just confirmed their participation as venture partners.
The event just got an upgrade, offering more capital, membership programs, and dealmaking opportunities.
NAIROBI, Kenya, September 4, 2026—The Africa Blockchain Festival (ABF) has announced that global early-stage venture capital firm Antler and pan-African VC Launch Africa Ventures have joined the 2026 Fellowship Programme as venture partners, bringing experienced investors directly into the startup selection and pitching process.
The Fellowship Programme is one of the highlights of the event, especially for startups and early-stage founders. It’s a chance for blockchain and AI founders to have a one-on-one conversation with investors, venture capital networks, and mentorship opportunities.
ABF 2026 has caught the attention of Antler, who became an official venture partner of the Africa Blockchain Festival 2026. The venture capital firm focuses solely on the startups and serves as the jury for the Fellowship pitch competition. Furthermore, it will deliver a technical startup workshop on the second day of the event.
Alongside this massive win comes Launch Africa Venture, who will support startup vetting. In summary, the firms will provide support and contribute to the judging process for the pitch competition.
Two venture capital firms bring experienced investor perspectives directly into the Fellowship selection process while giving participating founders greater exposure to how investors evaluate early-stage businesses.
The timing of the partnership couldn’t be better, especially with investor participation in African venture capital, which has hit a five-year low. Currently, only 162 unique investors are participating in dealings exceeding $100,000 since January. That’s a 26% drop from the same period in 2025.
RELATED: Africa’s crypto infrastructure buckles under the weight of the 2026 blockchain exodus
The early-stage squeeze has been particularly brutal: startups raising between $100,000 and $500,000 fell from 377 in 2021 to just 170 in 2025, a 55% decline.
“The most important number in African tech this year isn’t the total raised; it’s how few first checks are being written. If nobody underwrites company formation in 2026, there is no Series A class in 2029. We intend to back that pipeline.” ~ says Uwem Uwemakpan, Head of Investments at Launch Africa Ventures.
Antler has set its standards for the event and program, offering an initial $100,000 ticket for approximately 10% equity. This also includes a $150,000 pre-commitment for the startup’s next VC-led round.
Its counterpart, Launch Africa Venture, with 180+ portfolio companies across 25 countries and 15 new investments already in 2026, is one of the few VCs actively writing first checks. The firm recently returned approximately $2.5 million to its LPs from its first seed fund, demonstrating liquidity in a frozen market.
The program will feature selected founders, providing a slot solely reserved to impress the judges and the audience. Each founder will be presenting their businesses to an audience of investors, technology executives, founders, policymakers, financial institutions, and potential commercial partners.
The ABF Deal Room: Where Real Conversations Happen
The winning team will gain access to the ABF Deal Room. Think of it as the VIP slot focused on investment conversations, introductions, and potential dealmaking between founders and investors.
Unlike standard pitch competitions or open networking, the Deal Room is the actual conversation where qualified startups and active investors discuss valuation, technical due diligence, and term sheets.
However, the real prize is what happens beyond the festival. Those who make it out of the Deal Room receive post-event mentorship. A bootcamp for founders to strengthen their businesses and prepare for future growth and investment opportunities.
The focus is Africa, blockchain infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. Applications dealing in fintech payments, stablecoins, or tokenizations have the chance to walk away with tangible and long-term financial benefits.
Building Africa’s Next Generation of Technology Leaders
One of the highlights of the Fellowship that we strongly align with is a focus on blockchain beyond crypto and just finance. Traditional VC networks often overlook the “overshadowed” talent, including founders building solutions in agriculture, healthcare, trade, and education.
Olubunmi Fabanwo, co-founder and chief executive officer of ABF, said the Fellowship Programme creates tangible opportunities for the young people building Africa’s technology future.
“Africa has one of the youngest populations in the world, and that generation is growing up at a time when technology is completely changing what is possible. A young person in Nairobi, Kampala, Lagos, Kigali, Accra, or Dar es Salaam can build a solution today that potentially reaches millions of people. The challenge is making sure that talent has access to the capital, mentorship, and networks required to turn those ideas into sustainable companies.”
“We don’t want Africa Blockchain Festival to simply be a place where people spend three days talking about the future of technology,” Fabanwo added. “We want founders to walk into the festival with an idea or growing company and leave with new relationships, investor conversations, mentorship, and a clearer pathway towards scaling their business.”
“We have incredibly talented young people across Africa building solutions around payments, agriculture, healthcare, trade, education, and financial inclusion,” Fabanwo continued.
“Increasingly, they are using blockchain and artificial intelligence to approach these challenges differently. Our responsibility as an ecosystem is to make sure those young builders are not disconnected from capital. Africa cannot build a serious technology economy if some of our best ideas struggle to get beyond the prototype stage simply because the founder could not get into the right room.”
ABF 2026 has made one thing clear: that this time things will be different. The fellowship program is building a growing community of entrepreneurs who return as successful business leaders. It’s building, supporting, investing in, and mentoring Africa’s next generation of technology builders.
About the Africa Blockchain Festival
Africa Blockchain Festival (ABF) is Africa’s premier blockchain, Web3, and artificial intelligence conference, bringing together innovators, investors, policymakers, developers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders to advance digital transformation, foster investment, and accelerate the growth of Africa’s digital economy.
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