Reading Time: 3 minutes

Amid an explosion in data and rising archive storage solution costs, venture capital firm Newtown Partners will host the inaugural Filecoin Africa Launch Party, the largest gathering of the Filecoin community in Africa to date, to profile an alternative solution. The event takes place on 15 November 2022 at Cabo in Cape Town, South Africa.

Filecoin is a decentralised storage network designed to store humanity’s most important information. The Filecoin network leverages IPFS, a peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data to create an incentive structure for more efficient, resilient, and secure storage – free from centralised control.

The Filecoin network is set to revolutionise the global storage economy by allowing anyone to participate as a storage provider and store a user’s files. Additionally, the competitive marketplace makes it possible to store data on the network at hyper-competitive prices.

The amount of client data onboarded to the Filecoin network has increased ten times to over 270 pebibytes in 2022 and is growing at about 25% month-on-month. Clients storing data to Filecoin include traditional Web2 institutions with large datasets and growing Web3 applications such as web3.storage, which now stores 140 million uploads from 80,000 users.

Filecoin also incorporates provable security and authenticity. Content addressing and cryptographic storage proofs verify that data is being stored correctly and securely over time.

The Filecoin Africa Launch Party is the ideal event for software engineers, systems administrators or technology entrepreneurs with an interest in emerging hosting and file storage technologies, or tech entrepreneurs and business owners considering expansion into data hosting services.

This unique and exciting event is a first in Africa and will welcome international speakers from the global Filecoin community, including keynote speaker Juan Benet, founder of Filecoin and Protocol Labs.

During his keynote address, Benet will unpack the Filecoin storage network and share more information about:

  • How the Filecoin network ensures data availability, privacy and security
  • Why the Filecoin network is orders of magnitude cheaper at archive storage than traditional cloud storage providers.
  • Share successful use cases for storing files on the Filecoin network.
  • Explain how to get started with hosting your company or client data on the Filecoin network
  • State the case for operating your own file storage business on the Filecoin network.

“We’re huge fans of the work of the Filecoin Foundation and Protocol Labs teams to lead the creation of robust and cost-effective web3 infrastructure,“ said Llew Claasen, Managing Partner at venture capital firm, Newtown Partners.

“We’d love to see the transformational Filecoin technology widely adopted across Africa. We’re excited to host this opportunity for meaningful information sharing, informal dialogue and good old fun between African technology enthusiasts and the most respected international Filecoin community members and decentralized data storage experts out there.”

The Filecoin Africa Launch Party will be MC’d by radio personality and founder of Cape Town’s Innovation City, Kieno Kammies.

Additional speakers will include:

  • Llew Claasen, Managing Partner at Newtown Partners, talking about the African developer ecosystem and the work being done in web3.
  • Vinny Lingham, CEO and co-founder of Civic, who will explain why he is excited about Filecoin/IPFS and other decentralised technologies.
  • Sonia John from Filecoin Foundation, who will provide an overview of the foundation and discuss developer grants and the foundation’s support funnel for the ecosystem.

In addition to hearing more about the Filecoin network, guests will enjoy an afternoon and evening of drinks, eats and networking with fellow African technology enthusiasts and revered Filecoin community members.

The evening will also feature a magical Avatar-themed decor lightscape, a live and exclusive performance by acclaimed South African electronic band GoodLuck, an immersive openworld metaverse experience, and a 360 degree camera to create your own 3D avatar NFT to take home with you.

The event is free to attend but attendance is by invite only. However, anyone can apply for an invite on https://www.showwave.co.za/online/filecoin/

If you would like to receive an exclusive invitation to the Filecoin Africa Launch Party, visit the event website to submit information about yourself and share how you would like to use the Filecoin storage network in your business or for your clients.