Becoming a land-owner with an NFT certificate
CV VC's portfolio company, HouseAfrica, has developed Africa's first blockchain-based land and property registry. This platform helps buyers to make informed decisions when purchasing land.
In Nigeria, ownership of a piece of land is often ambiguous. More than 60% of all court cases in the West African country concern issues related to the legal ownership of land. Who owns the land rightfully, what are the documents, and who can I buy it from? Currently, the court answers these questions, but that should change as soon as possible, according to HouseAfrica co-founder Nnamdi Uba.
A simple solution to a big problem: The startup HouseAfrica provides an immutable ledger alongside a visual map reference, ensuring the integrity of land titles and increasing access to the property. «We work with over 100 real estate companies,» explains 35-year-old Nnamdi. They can register on the website and indicate the sections that can be purchased legally.
The goal of HouseAfrica is not only to visualize the legal lands. They also want to process a sale faster and more securely. At the moment, buying land in Nigeria requires significant trust. The registration process could last up to three years and be dragged before the court. «With our solution, the purchase of land takes minutes, the seller has his money, and the buyer has his land with a legal digital allocation certificate.» The buyers receive the certificate as a PDF, on which the NFT link to their piece of land proves legality. So far, they have issued over 350 land allocations.
HouseAfrica was founded in 2018. Since then, the two founders, Ndifreke Ikokpu and Nnamdi Uba, have expanded their team to 15 people thanks to CV VC. «The exchange we had with CV VC was constructive for us,» says Nnamdi, who is responsible for IT. HouseAfrica went through CV Labs' 10-week accelerator program in 2021 - unfortunately remote at the time because of Covid-19.
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