This is the organization’s largest cryptocurrency investment funding to date.
On Friday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced that it would fund eight technology companies across seven emerging-market economies.
UNICEF’s Cryptocurrency Fund will grant 125 Ethereum (ETH) to each company—worth more than $28,600—to use over the next six months to scale or prototype their respective technologies. These beneficiary companies have already received up to $100,000 in fiat currency from UNICEF’s Innovation Fund.
One UNICEF fund recipient, Afinidata, provides educational content for parents of young children. Another, Cireha, builds communication systems that children with speech or language impairments can use offline. UNICEF is working with mission-driven firms, giving them much-needed cryptocurrency support to help sustain their momentum going forward.
Chris Fabian, co-lead of UNICEF Ventures, said the organization is adapting to the digital world in order to be better equipped to help children.
“We are seeing the digital world approach us faster than we could have imagined, and UNICEF must be able to use all the tools of this new world to help children today and tomorrow,” he explained.
“Transferring these funds to eight companies in seven countries around the world took less than 20 minutes and cost us under $20. The near-instant global movement of value, fees of less than 0.00009% of the total transferred, and real-time transparency for our donors and collaborators are the kinds of tools that excite us.”
Of the eight companies receiving cryptocurrency from UNICEF, three were beneficiaries of the fund’s first crypto investments made last year. The remainder were selected from a list of nearly 40 startups that graduated from UNICEF’s Innovation Fund.
UNICEF says these companies underwent technical assessments, quality reviews of their open-source technology solutions, impact evidence evaluations, and more.
Avyantra and Statwig, two of the recipients, are based in India. Other beneficiaries include Afinidata from Guatemala, Cireha from Argentina, Ideasis from Turkey, OS City from Mexico, Somleng from Cambodia, and Utopic from Chile.
In addition to funding, UNICEF’s announcement stated that these companies will receive mentoring in business growth, technical and product support, open-source and UX/UI development, access to experts and partners, and opportunities to showcase their solutions.
UNICEF’s Cryptocurrency Fund launched in October 2019, becoming the first United Nations organization to hold and transact in cryptocurrencies.