Mercy Corps Ventures is launching a second year of its Crypto for Good Fund of $1 million. This Fund is set up to test and support Web3 solutions for underserved groups in emerging markets globally. Up to 10 enterprises will receive up to $100,000 in grant funding to test their pilot projects applying blockchain and other Web3 technologies to build financial inclusion and/or climate resilience solutions for users. Applicants can submit their pilot proposals here. Applications are open from February 14th to March 31st, 2023.
Through Mercy Corps Ventures, the impact investing arm of Mercy Corps, startups will receive grant funding, mentorship, impact measurement advisory, access to partnership opportunities, knowledge exchange, and brand exposure. Pilot projects should utilize Web3 technologies to improve financial inclusion and climate resilience for low-income communities in emerging and frontier economies.
“We know that startups are bringing new, innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges,” says Scott Onder, Managing Director of Mercy Corps Ventures, “We want to support founders to scale these nascent solutions by offering strategic support and funding to test, validate and accelerate their work to onboard the next generation of users in emerging markets.”
Applicants must be early-stage startups leveraging blockchain to deliver solutions to underserved populations, have active users and commercial revenue, and be an entity registered and operating in the country of pilot. Pilots can operate in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Pacific Islands, Eastern Europe or Western Balkans.
Mercy Corps Ventures is particularly interested in supporting entrepreneurs local to the market in which they’re operating as well as female founders, applicants with representation of women at all levels of the organization, and solutions that reach underserved populations including youth, smallholder farmers, informal merchants, gig workers, displaced populations, and women.
