According to a report, two percent of global cryptocurrency transactions are currently housed in Africa — an alarming statistic for a continent housing over one billion people who serve as the demographic for the smallest cryptocurrency market in the world. On a mission to change this, TechCrunch reports Nelly Chatue-Diop founded Ejara to serve as a cryptocurrency and investment platform within Francophone Africa. Little did she know, a financial crisis she experienced at a young age due to the devaluation of the CFA franc in 1994, would lead her to launch the tech company, which would provide additional avenues to accumulate income. Now — just about a year after its launch — Ejara has raised a $2 million seed funding round led by CoinShares Ventures and Anthemis Group. Other participants included angel investors Pascal Gauthier of Ledger and Jason Yanowitz of Blockworks along with a syndicate social fund, Lateral Capital, Mercy Corps Ventures, LoftyInc Capital and NetX Fund.

The African continent has experienced severe challenges in its pharmaceutical supply chains for decades leaving many people without access to medication. TechCrunch reports, “In response, the co-founders created and piloted a tech-based platform in 2015 linking manufacturers with distributors. This plan failed to take-off as it immediately became clear that a platform alone would not suffice.” In 2017, the outlet reports, those co-founders Chibuzo Opara and Adham Yehia launched DrugStoc officially to connect drug store companies with hospitals and pharmacies in Nigeria. The new model, however, proved to be successful due to new infrastructures such as fulfillment centers and warehouses to facilitate orders, packaging, shipment of products, and customer support units. Since its inception, the e-health drug procurement platform has delivered pharmaceutical products to 100 million people and has connected 400 manufacturers to 3,200 doctors, hospitals and pharmacies. The company plans...