Web3 edtech startup Web3 Sanctuary is the winner of the just concluded NODO pitch competition at the CV Africa Summit in Cape Town, South Africa on May 5.

The startup offers a comprehensive curriculum designed to equip its tech students with the knowledge, made the top three list together with Cairo-based Web3 messaging service Pravica and South Africa’s Web3 risk analysis platform Riskbloq, by close of voting on May 4.

While expressing her excitement for win of the $1,000 grant, Web3 Sanctuary founder Devon Krantz said she hopes the win will attract more funding as she seeks to expand the platform to Nigeria and Kenya.

(From Left: Head of Product Rebecka Marriot, CEO Devon Krantz, and Lead Developer Dominic Mostert after they emerged first at NODO’s pitching competition in Cape Town on May 5, 2023. Photo/ Faustine Ngila)

“We want to make an impact and therefore do need funding to develop our platform farther, create more content and upscale our mission. Interacting with the right people helps us actualize this mission,” Krantz told NODO News shortly after the winning ceremony. “As soon as our platform launches, there’ll be country diagnostics and soon thereafter, in the next three to four months, we expect to start getting feedback from countries in Africa on the prospects of upscaling our product.”

A Win for Women in Web3

The startup, which has been offering its Blockchain 101 course freely and only charging for its advanced trainings, wants to prove to people how remarkable their curriculum is so that they have a reason to onboard the trainings.

*(CEO Devon Krantz when she pitched her startup’s mission to the judges on May 5, 2023 at the CV Africa Summit in Cape Town. Photo/ Faustine Ngila)*

“We want to make Blockchain 101 more accessible because education is one concept that empowers every nation and we want that to be a benchmark to spark the potential of Africa in the Web3 space,” she said. “One of the critical issues that we noticed is that there are not many female Web3 role models in the space. We look to increase the representation of women in the space.”

Such Web3 gatherings as the CV Summit, she opined, are important in that they bring people together to learn more about the ecosystem. Through these summits, stakeholders in the ecosystem are able to learn from each other, make new networks and meet potential collaborators for their future projects.

“For instance, the University of Cape Town Innovation Center had presentations and projects, which I found quite interesting. They are empowering university students in the space to start making a difference at such an early age,” she said.

*(Emurgo Africa and Middle East co-CEO Yosuke Yoshida (center) congratulates Krantz on her win. Looking on is CV VC Africa Managing Director Gideon Greaves. Photo/ Faustine Ngila)*

Krantz revealed that she has plans to go into full fundraising and reaching out to potential investors to upscale the Web3 Sanctuary platform.

Rebecka Marriott, who is the Head of Product and Operations at Web3 Sanctuary noted that the win materializes all their concepts making them realize that there, indeed, is a need for Web3 education in Africa.

“The win is indicative of the barriers that we are breaking down. We are encouraging female experts to venture into our community and ecosystem. And the fact that we are female too, is a motivation for women seeking to join the space. We’ve gotten all the support from the ecosystem, which is encouraging,” Marriott told NODO News. “While there are still many such projects that are mainly dominated by men, this notion is slowly changing.”

*(Head of Product and Operations at Web3 Sanctuary Rebecka Marriott was enthralled by the win. Photo/ Faustine Ngila.)*

Marriott intimated that one of the biggest challenges that the Web3 technology suffers in Africa is the burden of breaking down the initial stigma around it and demonstrating that this technology has great potential and opportunities.

“The biggest challenge would therefore be to get people onboard and give them the enthusiasm to learn because we believe that there is still room for that,” an elated Marriott said.

Judges Were Looking at a Solution Tied to UN’s SDGs

Emurgo Africa and Middle East co-CEOs Yosuke Yoshida and Shogo Ishida, and CV VC Africa’s Head of Growth, Brenton Naicker who were the judges in the competition, said while they loved every single startup’s ideas, they were mainly focused on a startup’s project’s impact at scale and how it would address the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs) and solve Africa’s problems.

“One observation that we made is that of the ten investments that we’ve made in Africa, eight of those directly address UN SDGS and solve some of the biggest problems in the African continent,” Naicker said while announcing the winners. “However, what the team at Web3 Sanctuary is building is an unbelievable opportunity to leverage a global industry to solve some of our biggest problems.”

(Left to Right: CV VC Africa’s Head of Growth Brenton Naicker, Web3 Sanctuary’s Lead Developer Dominic Mostert and Head of Product Rebecka Marriot, Emurgo Africa’s Co-CEO Shogo Ishida, Riskbloq’s CEO Nzwisisa Chidembo, Web3 Sanctuary’s CEO Devon Krantz, Emurgo Africa’s Co-CEO Yosuke Yoshida, Pravica’s CEO Mohamed Abdou, and CV VC Africa Managing Director Gideon Greaves after the announcement of the pitching results. Photo/ Faustine Ngila)

Africa’s high youth unemployment, he said, makes it difficult for the continent to function properly as a society. The judges felt Krantz’s startup is striving to address this issue through its trainings.

“Web3 Sanctuary is a platform that can leverage the growth of this industry and solve those problems that are specific to South Africa, other regions across the continent and other virgin markets as well,” Naicker said.

Riskbloq was hailed for its efforts to addressing the risk exposure challenge in the blockchain ecosystem while Pravica was acknowledged for its building a blockchain-powered unified secure digital communication suite that empowers user privacy and security.

-Edited by Shigeru Sato