Blockchain Ventures
Investing in blockchain-based digital public goods for children, built with open-source software by emerging market entrepreneurs
Blockchain technology has the potential to transform humanitarian and development action for children through more transparent, accountable and efficient operations.
At the UNICEF Venture Fund, we are at the forefront of identifying, testing and investing in frontier tech solutions with the potential to accelerate global social impact for children. Our blockchain work – piloting and research, prototyping and scaling – is revealing new use cases, and we are seeking more.
UNICEF Blockchain Ventures provides funding and technical assistance to emerging market startups building innovative blockchain-based solutions. Funding is provided in cryptocurrency via the Venture Fund’s digital asset vehicle – the CryptoFund – the only investment arm in the United Nations system able to receive, hold and deploy cryptocurrency and stablecoin contributions.
Since 2014, the Venture Fund has provided 92 early-stage startups, across different frontier tech, with equity-free capital of up to US$100,000 – in both fiat and cryptocurrency. This growing portfolio has reached over 114 million people and attracted 12.4x the initial capital invested. Close to half of the startups are woman-led or woman-founded.
Why blockchain?
A blockchain is like an account book that everyone can look at but no one can tamper with. The information in this shared database is decentralized and immutable – meaning it cannot be altered by any individual without leaving a trace – and distributed, with identical copies of the data in machines all over world providing an extra layer of security and accountability.
Built with open-source software, blockchain offers multilateral agencies like UNICEF a path to more transparent, accountable and efficient operations, including financial transfers, supply chains, impact and progress tracking, multi-stakeholder coordination, governance and online trust and security.
Blockchain Ventures is backing startups in emerging markets building blockchain-based digital public goods (DPGs) that are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and supporting UNICEF country offices to deploy them.
We are also collaborating with established Web3 players to design, develop and prototype solutions, and have an in-house full-stack team to build solutions ourselves. We are particularly interested in use cases for:
improving accountability and transparency of existing services and payments.
new financing and fundraising models and local governance.
incentivizing and encouraging the creation of digital public goods (DPGs) and innovative sustainable business models to support them.
Our track record and road ahead
We have invested in 23 blockchain solutions to date, addressing financial inclusion, health, nutrition, climate, connectivity and education, and deployed solutions in Bangladesh, Burundi, Nepal and elsewhere.
These pilots have impact separately, but when brought together their potential is multiplied, creating coherent, scalable blockchain-based systems.
The direction of travel is clear: from individual pilots towards platforms and ecosystem-level solutions, and from digital-only innovation towards real-world impact.