Only 10 per cent of private capital investment in early-stage innovators reaches emerging markets. To address this gap, the UNICEF Venture Fund launched a new growth funding tier in 2021, with up to $400,000, available in both fiat and cryptocurrency, to support companies that have previously received seed funding and demonstrated promising results.
Fast forward three years, the Fund is onboarding three more companies to the growth cohort. Rumsan in Nepal, Xcapit in Argentina, and Tilli in Sri Lanka are companies illustrating the transformational role of frontier tech, specifically blockchain and AI, in delivering social impact and results for children. The additional companies bring the total cohort count to 15 startups.
Rumsan and Xcapit: Harnessing Blockchain and Web3 Tech to Bolster Humanitarian Aid Efficiency and Financial Inclusion
Blockchain technology has significant real-world implications for humanitarian aid. It addresses critical challenges such as transparency, accountability, efficiency in aid delivery, and financial inclusion of unbanked and underbanked populations.
Rumsan’s Rahat platform, for example, leverages blockchain to manage digital cash and voucher assistance (CVA). An evaluation of a pilot by UNICEF Nepal using Rahat for a CVA project in 2023 found that, unlike traditional digital CVA platforms that rely on conventional digital security measures and face challenges like limited transparency, delayed monitoring, and less inclusive approaches, Rahat leverages blockchain’s tamper-proof data storage and encryption mechanisms to ensure robust security.
Its high level of transparency, with transactions recorded on an immutable public ledger, reduces disputes and enhances trust. Rahat also caters to both banked and unbanked beneficiaries, compared to traditional CVA platforms which often require beneficiaries to have bank accounts or specific technologies.
