Deadline Date: December 01, 2025
The Mercy Corps Ventures has launched its AI for Financial Resilience Program to leverage emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain to expand financial inclusion, build climate resilience, and strengthen economic stability for unbanked and underbanked populations across emerging markets.
The initiative aims to expand financial inclusion and resilience through innovation, leveraging AI, blockchain, and other emerging technologies to create accessible, affordable financial services such as insurance, credit, savings, and remittances for unbanked and low-income individuals. It seeks to bridge climate resilience and financial access by piloting and scaling solutions that enable vulnerable communities to withstand and thrive despite climate shocks through improved protection mechanisms. Another key objective is to build robust evidence and share sector learnings by producing insights and best practices to inform future investments and replicate effective models across markets. Up to $50K equity-free funding for startups.
The initiative pilots and scales innovative financial solutions such as AI-driven insurance, parametric credit, savings via bond tokenization, and anticipatory cash transfers and remittances. These technologies are designed to enhance financial access, economic resilience, and trust in digital finance systems. The program also emphasizes using AI for financial literacy through education and training, empowering individuals to make informed financial decisions and engage more confidently with digital products.
The primary beneficiaries of the initiative are unbanked and underbanked populations, focusing on low-income individuals, women, immigrants, and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The geographic focus includes emerging markets, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, where the financial inclusion gap remains most significant.
Applicants and implementing partners are expected to demonstrate measurable impact by outlining how their solutions will build financial resilience for unbanked people in emerging markets, specifying the number of people reached and the depth of impact achieved. They must also highlight the innovation edge of their solutions, showcasing how first-of-a-kind approaches can signal progress and transformation within the broader financial ecosystem.
Proposals should further establish a sustainable business model demonstrating how the product can scale responsibly to reach millions of unbanked individuals while ensuring long-term financial resilience. Additionally, projects will be evaluated based on their likelihood of success, including technological readiness levels, existing user bases, and the feasibility of achieving tangible outcomes within the pilot timeframe.
For more information, visit Mercy Corps Ventures.
