• Binded

  Participated · Equity · May 2017

  Binded provides photographers a way to create a permanent, public record of their copyright on the blockchain to help protect intellectual property. The company rebranded from Blockai to Binded to emphasize a legally binding record rather than blockchain technology. Binded positions its service as an intermediate, less time-consuming and less expensive step than formal registration with the U.S. Copyright Office, aiming to create an independent record that should carry legal weight. CEO Nathan Lands pledged that the core Binded product will always be free. The company plans to add paid services over time, such as the ability to register with the Copyright Office. Binded has raised a total of $1.5 million to date. Blockai provides a drag-and-drop service that records artists', photographers' and other creators' works on the blockchain and issues registration certificates as proof of creation. CEO Nathan Lands positions the product as an intermediate step between formal Library of Congress registration and doing nothing. The company argues that a permanent, immutable blockchain record can serve as evidence in court and can deter infringement without relying on strict DRM. Lands envisions a future universal database for claiming ownership of creations and for paying royalties, and aims to make it simple for people to do the right thing. The startup has raised $547,000 from a group of investors, indicating early external financing for its product and roadmap.

• Paystack

  Participated · Seed · Dec 2016

  Paystack provides an online payments API that lets merchants integrate payments with a few lines of code. The company is active in Nigeria, integrating with tens of thousands of businesses and claiming to process 15% of all online payments in the country. Its platform supports payment cards, bank transfers, mobile money and USSD by working with major banks and mobile carriers to handle fragmented local payment methods. Paystack processes over $20 million monthly and typically takes about 1.5% per transaction. The founders are Shola Akinlade (CEO) and Ezra Olubi (CTO), and Paystack was the first Nigerian startup to enter Y Combinator. The company plans to continue growing in Nigeria and to expand to other African countries, starting with Ghana. Paystack provides an online payments platform that connects multi-channel payment options with merchants across Nigeria, enabling acceptance of credit cards, debit cards and direct bank transfers on web and mobile. Led by co-founders Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, the company has partnered with Nigerian internet companies including iROKOtv, Jobberman, Payporte and Hotels.ng. Now moving out of beta, Paystack has built a developer community of more than 30 independent developers building plug-ins and tools using its REST APIs and client libraries. The company intends to use the $1.3M seed funding to build out its engineering team in Lagos, grow sales and marketing operations, and accelerate product development and customer onboarding. Paystack is a Y Combinator alumnus and currently runs operations from Sunnyvale and Lagos, Nigeria.

No current team members are available.