Crypto for Good Fund

At Mercy Corps Ventures, we’re seeking partners to responsibly pilot and de-risk crypto and blockchain-powered solutions, keeping un/under-banked people at the center of their design, to radically improve what they have access to. Our newly launched Crypto for Good Fund aims to drive global financial inclusion through a series of pilots in partnership with up to ten startups, building an evidence base to prove the scalability of blockchain-enabled solutions in emerging markets.

About the fund

Mercy Corps Ventures is offering $1 million in funding to startups (up to $100,000 each) looking to pilot scalable blockchain solutions that can drive financial inclusion in emerging markets. We aim to close the ‘hype gap’ by catalyzing real-world use cases for financially underserved populations.

Areas of focus

We’re looking for 10 startups who are leveraging blockchain to deliver financial inclusion solutions. We expect to see a diverse range of solutions including, but not limited to:

• Coins / Tokens
• NFTs
• Digital Wallets
• Lending protocols
• Digital IDs
• DAOs
• Smart contracts

Fund objective

Our objective is to test and build the evidence base for innovative financial technologies. For example, how and to what extent are blockchain, digital assets, and cryptocurrencies useful in expanding and accelerating financial inclusion and resilience for low-income and un/under-banked populations?

The Crypto for Good fund is: Grant funding (disseminated in fiat currency) for a startup to run a pilot, which tests a new, innovative solution to drive financial inclusion in emerging markets.

The Crypto for Good fund is not: Funding to scale a company or funding delivered in cryptocurrency.

The grant projects must seek to demonstrate: 

• How blockchain technology can increase financial inclusion among low-income and un/under-banked populations;
• What business models and partnerships are required for blockchain solutions to be adopted sustainably and at scale; and
• What additional socio-economic impact can be achieved by using blockchain solutions to build financial inclusion solutions.

For more details, please refer to the Term Sheet.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible to apply, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Be a small and growing enterprise or startup leveraging blockchain to deliver financial inclusion solutions to low-income and/or un/under-banked users in at least one eligible country.
  Have active users and commercial revenue (users and revenue from any products or services offered by the organization) in at least one eligible country.
• Be an entity registered and operating in the country of pilot implementation (whether domestic or internationally-owned or a joint venture). In cases where responsibility for service delivery lies with a downstream partner, rather than the applicant (for example service delivery by a local government), it may be acceptable for the applicant to be registered in a country other than that of the pilot implementation.
• Be fully compliant with relevant business licensing, taxation, employee, and other regulations in all applicable countries of grant pilot operation.
• Be registered and have a bank account in the country where they will receive the grant money (if not the same as the pilot implementation country).
• Be an eligible entity and demonstrate that a majority of their income is derived from commercial activities.
• Early-stage companies who have not reached this threshold will need to demonstrate a reliable path to sustainability via commercial activities that generate revenue to be considered.
• Startups must allocate significant resources to demonstrate commitment and signal the strategic importance of the pilot opportunity.
• Only one organization can apply for funding and become a pilot delivery partner. Applicants are encouraged to have downstream partners to support implementation. In the case of government entities being grant pilot partners, they cannot be a sub-recipient of the grant.

During the selection process, we will also ensure eligible applicants are/have:

• Adequate financial systems, to report regularly to the Fund, providing evidence of expenditure of grant funds.
• A bank account to receive and hold grant payments.
• Adequate internal human resource capacity to implement the proposed pilot and comply with the Fund’s reporting requirements within the pre-agreed time frame.
• Able to demonstrate the potential and drive to form strategic partnerships with other technology organizations.
• A plan for long-term sustainability and societal impact beyond the lifespan of the grant (such as through user uptake, business model, financial viability, follow-on funding, etc.) and demonstrate there is further potential for scale or replication.
• Applicants may need to demonstrate how they are compliant with all applicable laws and regulations across markets of operations.