The round was led by AU21 Capital, alongside participation
from Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon founder, Cardano’s Occam, Outlier Ventures,
Inclusion Capital, Onega Ventures, Pluto Digital Assets, Chain Capital, N7 Labs,
and PolkaFoundary.
Wicrypt is a decentralised mobile internet sharing and
monetisation network that allows anyone to get paid for sharing their Wi-Fi.
Users download the Wicrypt app and provide Wi-Fi through their mobile device or
by purchasing a unique, custom-built Wicrypt Hotspot Creator device.
Wi-Fi providers can customize their customer experience
through their Wicrypt dashboard, by offering surveys, ads, and collecting
customer data. Wicrypt-connected devices are all represented by unique NFTs
that are linked to the blockchain. While Wicrypt hosts are paid by those
accessing WiFi, Wicrypt also incentivises hosts through its native token, $WNT,
for having high device up-time.
The startup launched in Africa in 2018, and signed an exclusive
partnership with the city of Enugu, Nigeria to provide internet service to its
citizens. Bootstrapped by its founder, it became profitable in 2020, and has
now raised US$1.5 million in funding to enable it to scale further.
The round was led by AU21 Capital, with participation from
Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal, Cardano’s Occam, Inclusion Capital, Outlier
Ventures, Chain Capital, Pluto Digital Assets, Onega Ventures, N7 Labs, and
PolkaFoundary.
“While we have formed substantial business partnerships in
Africa, this funding allows us to grow into new countries by increasing our
marketing efforts,” said Ugochukwu Aronu, chief executive officer (CEO) of
Wicrypt.
“Wicrypt is providing last-mile internet to people of the
world who need it, while leveraging the blockchain by having hosts stake $WNT
to become a part of the Wicrypt Network. This ensures overall security of the
network and that hosts do not perform malicious actions while providing
internet connections to clients.”
Nailwal said investing in an already-profitable company was
rare in the blockchain space, but on top of that, Wicrypt is giving people the
ability to access the internet in regions where Wi-Fi can be very expensive and
unattainable for many people.
“By empowering people to share their Wi-Fi and make money,
they are making this a win-win situation for all involved, particularly in
remote regions where large internet companies are not incentivised to provide
coverage,” he said.
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