LAB Open Source Builders Fund

Supporting African developers building open-source Bitcoin infrastructure, financial tools, and decentralized systems for the next generation of the digital economy.

The LAB Open Source Builders Fund supports African developers building open-source infrastructure across the Bitcoin ecosystem, with a primary focus on empowering African builders. Created by Let Africa Build (LAB), this fund empowers emerging developers to experiment, prototype, and launch tools that strengthen decentralized finance, payment systems, and developer infrastructure across Africa. By supporting early-stage experimentation, the fund helps transform promising developers into startup founders and contributors to the global Bitcoin ecosystem.

domain:ai-technologydomain:open-infrastructureplace:africa

Eligibility

The LAB Open Source Builders Fund prioritizes African developers and teams building open-source infrastructure and tools across the Bitcoin ecosystem.
International builders may also participate if their work collaborates with the LAB ecosystem or contributes meaningfully to the growth of Bitcoin infrastructure across Africa.
We prioritize projects that strengthen decentralized financial systems, developer tooling, and technical infrastructure while contributing to the global open-source ecosystem.
To qualify for this fund, projects MUST meet the following eligibility requirements
- The project must be open source with publicly accessible code repositories.
- At least one core contributor should be African or actively collaborating with the LAB ecosystem in Africa.
- The project must build on or integrate with Bitcoin infrastructure (e.g., Lightning, Stacks, wallets, payment systems, or DeFi tooling).
- The project must demonstrate a working prototype, active repository development, or meaningful technical progress towards a deployable infrastructure tool.
- The project should contribute to infrastructure, developer tooling, financial inclusion, or decentralized systems.
- Builders must participate in the LAB developer community and collaborate through the LAB GitHub organization
- Projects must publish development updates, documentation, and learning resources for the wider open-source ecosystem.
FOCUS AREAS
The LAB Open Source Builders Fund focuses on projects building critical infrastructure across the Bitcoin ecosystem, including:
- Bitcoin developer tooling
- Lightning infrastructure
- Wallet infrastructure and integrations
- Payment rails and financial infrastructure
- Bitcoin Layer 2 experimentation
- Open-source financial tools
Selected projects may also receive mentorship, technical guidance, and community support through the Let Africa Build developer network.

Projects (31)

19 submitted · 12 curated

Project	Status	Raised
MeshSats	curated	$0
BitCommunity OS	curated	$0
SmartX Finance	curated	$2,230
DefiLabs - Gamified Bitcoin DeFi Learning Platform	curated	$0
Let Africa Build	curated	$0
Clarity Fuzzing Framework	curated	$0
BTC Guardian	curated	$0
CowrieSats	curated	$0
ResolvX	curated	$0
StacksIndex	curated	$10
Adaju Protocol	curated	$0
NairaSats	curated	$0
Mirroring	submitted	$236
NEXAVERSE: Powering Freedom Through Decentralized Work	submitted	$1,017
International Artists Project	submitted	$462
Akuya	submitted	$234
B3TR Transit	submitted	$0
SolarConnect: Powering Rural Schools with Solar Internet Learning Hubs	submitted	$0
Clova Pay Africa	submitted	$179
Knyom Crypto Onboarding Kiosk	submitted	$101
BlockFinaX	submitted	$16,592
TrustChain: Decentralized Document Verification for Everyone	submitted	$0
Bioma | The first earth conscious workspace.	submitted	$0
The International Artists Project Documentary	submitted	$563
Zed Web3 builders hub	submitted	$10
Project Keystone: AI-Powered Engineering Document Intelligence	submitted	$1,373
DeCent Canopy	submitted	$1,544
Hands of Hope Foundation	submitted	$0
UNMUTE1AI: FOUNDING SIGNAL #001 Limited Founder Artifact	submitted	$106
Bitcoin and web3 technology	submitted	$120
Giggora - Find your neighborhood services with live map location	submitted	$115