According to Bantu Makers co-founder and Deya CEO Vanda de Oliveira, “This pre-seed funding is important because it will allow us to develop new intellectual property for the platform and expand Deya’s offer so that its users (individuals and organizations) can get the most value possible, and thus enable greater growth exponentially the platform.” Since its launch, Deya has facilitated the raising of $22,000 via its platform for social impact projects and is now moving from the donation and reward models to implement an equity-based later this year. Founded in 2017 by Angeola’s startup studio Bantu Makers and Doriel Fonseca, Deya aims to help boost access to finance for causes of social impact and entrepreneurial projects being the first home of entepreneurs, fund-raisers and financiers/donors. Deya was launched to remove the physical barriers traditionally associated with receiving financial support for causes of social impact and aims to empower modern philanthropists to make an impact, facilitating donation and connection with causes that matter. According to a World Bank study (2013) there is an opportunity for more than 344 million people in emerging countries to participate in crowdfunding, and the African continent has a market potential of $ 2.5bn by 2025. “The beauty of crowdfunding is the possibility for individuals, companies and organizations to be able to raise funds without the intermediation of banks or other traditional financing institutions and in this potential we are working to become the reference platform in this sector for sub-Saharan Africa in the next five years. This financing is the first phase to enforce this objective ”added CEO Vanda de Oliveira.
