With their eyes on one of the largest markets in Latin America, Cape Verdean startups are taking advantage of the Web Summit in Rio de Janeiro as a strategic point to scale up its business and expand its international presence. “The language issue favors us, but it also favors Brazilians, who need to be in Africa,” Claudia Monteiro from Afrikan Coders, a Cape Verdean startup that connects companies looking for technological talent with programmers in Africa, told Lusa.
“I believe there is great potential for partnership, both from us here and from them to Africa,” he said, during the event that ended today in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
Also, Leida Correia e Silva, founder and CEO of KORU, a Cape Verdean fintech that was born from her experience as a student in China, has no doubts that the way forward is Brazil: “We are in Brazil because they are leaders in the digital financial payments market”, referring to PIX, the instant transfer system launched by the Central Bank of Brazil, which became an inspiration for Cape Verde.
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In addition to technology, Leida highlighted cultural and linguistic proximity as a huge advantage for Cape Verdeans.
“Language helps a lot. We consume a lot of Brazilian culture. In Portugal too, and in Cape Verde even more so. Soap operas, TikTok, YouTube… even my daughter says ‘Brazilian’,” he said.
Its objective was to adapt this reality to Cape Verde, a country with a large diaspora and a strong flow of remittances, but which still lacks its own technological solutions.
Therefore, he created the startup KORU, a financial inclusion solution for Cape Verde and Africa, based on blockchain technology, integrating digital identity, digital wallet and a stablecoin.
“Even if you don’t find immediate investment, contacts open up avenues for you,” he said, referring to the Web Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which lasted four days, although Leida was only able to attend for half of the time due to the blackout in Portugal.
On Monday, in an interview with Lusa, the Secretary of State for the Digital Economy of Cape Verde, who led a delegation of 10 people and four startups from the country at the Web Summit Rio 2025, to demonstrate to the South American giant the capabilities that Cape Verde has in becoming a bridge from Brazil to Europe and Africa.
“We share the same language, we share the same culture (…) Cape Verde was almost the 'startup' of Brazil”, summarized Pedro Fernandes Lopes.
On Monday, the Cape Verdean official participated in a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos, and on Sunday he signed a memorandum with the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce of Rio de Janeiro, which provides for business missions to Cape Verde and the creation of a circuit of Portuguese-Brazilian-African business collaboration.
