A builder and investor working at the frontier of finance and technology in emerging markets.
Olaoluwa Samuel-Biyi is co-founder of Busha, Nigeria's first SEC-licensed digital asset exchange, serving over one million users with more than $6 billion traded, and of Yousend, a stablecoin remittance company for the African diaspora. He invests through Hacked Capital, a private vehicle where he’s a partner, and as a Venture Partner at Greenhouse Capital, and was previously an Investment Principal at Blockchain.com Ventures. He co-founded SureGifts, Nigeria's largest retail voucher provider, and was part of the early team at Jumia, where he led Business Intelligence.
He was named to Forbes Africa's 30 Under 30 in 2018. He holds a Master's from the London School of Economics, where he was a British Chevening Scholar, and earned his doctorate, with honours, at IE Business School, Madrid, on blockchain-based tokenisation and stablecoins. He tutors at Cambridge University's digital-asset executive programmes, and lectured as an adjunct professor at Hult International Business School and Anglia Ruskin University. He founded Cryptoeconomics, an AI-native research publication on the tokenised economy.
YousendA stablecoin-powered remittance company for the African diaspora, live in the UK and Canada with regulatory approvals from the FCA, FINTRAC and the Central Bank of Nigeria. Yousend reached roughly $100m in annualised payment volume within three months of launch.
BushaLeading investor relations and finance for one of the largest digital asset exchanges in Africa, and the first licensed by the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission. Busha has raised over $8m in venture capital from investors including Jump Capital, and its umbrella now includes Signal, one of Nigeria's first licensed prediction markets.
CryptoeconomicsAn AI-developed and operated global news and intelligence platform on cryptoeconomics, and the deepest source of insight on the tokenised economy. cryptoeconomics.com
Hacked CapitalA private investment vehicle backing early-stage technology companies. Portfolio includes Wallets (exited), Crowdforce (exited), Paystro, Scalex, Afriguild, Nexthop and Keble.
SureGiftsLead strategy and finance for Nigeria's largest retail voucher provider. With over $10m in annual sales, SureGifts powers the voucher programmes of 250+ leading retailers, serves 100,000+ retail customers, and runs the rewards programmes of 300+ corporate clients including major telcos, banks and government agencies.
Greenhouse CapitalRecruiting, fundraising, evaluating and facilitating equity investments in financial and educational technology startups across emerging markets. Deployed over $20m into companies including Flutterwave, Max.ng, Credpal, Migos and ESL.
Cambridge · Centre for Alternative FinanceTutoring on the Cambridge Digital Asset for Regulators and Digital Asset for Enterprises programmes, and previously the "Startup Funding: Pre-seed to Exit" executive programme.
Venture Garden GroupBoard member of a major B2B/B2G payment provider in West Africa across Aviation, Power, Education and International Remittance. Earlier, as Senior Manager for Pricing & Commercialization, managed the pricing and commercialization of large projects and capital investments and served as interim CFO during a $20m equity raise. He also helped design the payment-system architecture for the Government's National Social Safety Net Program and its model for regional Innovation Hubs.
Hult International Business SchoolLectured undergraduate courses in Blockchain, Alternative Investments, Social Innovation in Finance, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Trends & Innovation, Derivatives & Risk Management, and Financial Accounting at the London campus.
Blockchain.comFirst Investment Principal for Blockchain.com Ventures (100m+ AUM, 35+ ventures, 7x+ return on invested capital). Managed deal-sourcing, evaluation, negotiation, execution and post-investment support for portfolio companies.
Anglia Ruskin UniversitySessional lecturer in Economics and Strategy for Business at the London campus.
JumiaMember of the founding team. Designed and implemented the company-wide pricing model, shipping matrix, cash-on-delivery roll-out, and capacity planning models. Managed key product categories and coordinated new launches and special projects, including Nigeria's first Black Friday, while mining merchandising data to drive performance.
