The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has funded its first blockchain – a South African startup.
UNICEF informed this year about its intention to invest into projects, which are focusing on technology. For this purpose, the organization has launched a fund last year.
UNICEF also added, that it was focused on digital sector and remittances as possible areas of investment, while later UNICEF made even one step further towards blockchain. Now the UN organization has funded five startups, with the South Africa-based 9Seeds, which is using blockchain for identity tools development in an early childhood education. 9Seeds received around $100,000 in investment: These funds should be used for further development of the platform, already developed.
Chris Fabian, head of UNICEF’s Office of Innovation Ventures, informed that the reason for funding 9Seeds was that it is not only about the promotion of social progress, but they see also a viable path to profit.
But finance research is not only about the private sector. UNICEF has been doing its own trials as well. The UN’s Alternative Financing Lab has been focused over the previous year on testing the tech for uses in microfinance and connected devices, and last month, the UN diplomatic missions from Bangladesh and El Salvador held a discussion meeting, in part, how blockchain could help the organization meet some of its global sustainability goals.
But that’s not all from the side of UNICEF. As Fabian stated, the initial batch of startups is just the first step in a broader push to find and fund companies. UNICEF will begin accepting applications for its next round beginning to tomorrow, and Fabian said that UNICEF could invest in as many as five to ten blockchain startups in future rounds.
Fabian also added that UNICEF’s work with blockchain startups could one day lead to the organization itself integrating aspects of the tech to change how it operates.
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