The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), the nonprofit behind the Stellar blockchain network, has partnered with CV Labs to launch the Stellar x CV Labs Accelerator. It is Stellar’s first accelerator programme focused on the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, and it signals a deliberate bet on a part of the world where blockchain-powered financial services are not just theoretical but already in daily use.
The programme will support ten early-stage startups building on or planning to build on the Stellar network. Each selected team stands to receive up to $150,000 in XLM (Stellar’s native cryptocurrency) as initial development funding. Applications are open now through early July 2026, with the programme set to begin in August.
What the accelerator actually offers
This is a 12-week programme that runs mostly remotely, with an in-person component in Cape Town, South Africa. Selected startups will get hands-on technical support, guidance on tokenomics (the economics behind how a crypto token works within a project), go-to-market strategy development, and structured pathways to raise further funding.
Beyond the initial $150,000, participants will also get access to ecosystem perks, cloud credits, and introductions to venture capitalists and institutional investors already active in the Stellar ecosystem. After the programme wraps up, startups may also be eligible for additional grants from SDF.
The accelerator will conclude with an in-person Demo Day at the Stellar Meridian conference in Lisbon, Portugal, scheduled for October 2026. Think of it as a high-profile pitch day in front of the investors and institutions that matter in this space.
Why EMEA, and why now?
The short answer: that is where the demand is.
EMEA is home to more than 2 billion people and is one of the fastest-growing digital regions globally. Cross-border payments remain expensive and slow through traditional rails. Mobile money adoption, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, has created a population that is comfortable with digital financial tools but still underserved by legacy banking infrastructure. This is the exact gap that blockchain-based payments and stablecoins are designed to fill.
Stellar already has significant footing in the region. Its partnerships include MoneyGram, which recently extended its multi-year collaboration with SDF and has launched a stablecoin-powered app (built on Stellar and using Circle’s USDC) that is now live in Colombia and El Salvador, with broader rollout planned. Yellowcard, one of Africa’s largest crypto exchanges, and Flutterwave, one of the continent’s biggest payments companies, are also integrated with the network. SDF has additionally invested in African companies including ChipperCash, OkHi, and Kredete.
As Africa’s digital payments market is projected to nearly double to $19 billion by 2029, the accelerator positions Stellar to capture a meaningful share of that growth by backing the builders creating that infrastructure.
The institutional momentum behind Stellar
This accelerator does not exist in a vacuum. The Stellar network has been on a notable growth trajectory, particularly with institutional players.
Franklin Templeton expanded its tokenised U.S. Treasury fund to European institutional investors via Stellar last year. The fund, which holds over $625 million in assets, was the first of its kind from a traditional asset manager and represents one of the largest tokenised treasury products in the market.
PayPal announced its PYUSD stablecoin would expand to the Stellar network in mid-2025. Following regulatory approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services, PYUSD went live on Stellar late last year. Companies including Visa, Mastercard, Wirex, and U.S. Bank have also integrated the Stellar network into their payment and settlement systems.
On the network side, SDF says real-world assets on Stellar grew by 158% in 2025, total value locked rose by 127%, and the network has now surpassed 10 million active accounts and more than 21.5 billion total operations. More than 800 active projects are building across payments, savings, lending, and liquidity use cases.
Who is CV Labs?
CV Labs is the ecosystem arm of CV VC, a blockchain-focused venture capital firm headquartered in Zug, Switzerland (often called “Crypto Valley”). The firm operates innovation hubs across Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Portugal, South Africa, and the UAE. It has a track record of running accelerator programmes for blockchain ecosystems, including a similar programme for Cardano.
“Our acceleration-as-a-service model has already helped other leading blockchain ecosystems. With Stellar, we are now bringing that track record to one of the fastest-growing digital regions in the world,” said Olaf Hannemann, Co-Founder at CV VC.
The Cape Town component is particularly notable. CV Labs already runs an innovation hub in the city, giving participating startups access to an established physical presence on the continent rather than a fly-in, fly-out arrangement.
The bigger picture
This accelerator reflects a broader shift in how major blockchain networks think about growth. Rather than concentrating developer programmes in San Francisco or London, networks are increasingly investing directly in regions where the real-world demand for their technology is strongest. Accelerator programmes targeting Africa and EMEA have become a recurring theme across fintech, with Visa, Google, AWS, and Safaricom all running similar initiatives in recent years.
For Stellar, the bet is specific: payments infrastructure, tokenised real-world assets, and DeFi applications are moving from pilot to production. The startups that build the rails for this shift in EMEA could define how billions of people access financial services in the years ahead.
Founders interested in applying can do so through the Stellar Community Fund portal. Applications close at the beginning of July 2026.
