Deadline Date: March 10, 2026
The UNICEF Venture Fund is inviting early-stage startups developing blockchain-based solutions for social impact to join its Blockchain Ventures cohort.
The Fund focuses on improving accountability and transparency of existing services and payments, enabling new financing and fundraising models and local governance, and incentivizing the creation of digital public goods and innovative sustainable business models to support them.
Emerging-market startups with ready-to-deploy blockchain solutions now have the opportunity to receive equity-free funding of up to US$100,000 in ETH, BTC, or USDC, alongside tailored technical mentorship for piloting, implementation, and measuring impact over a 12-18 month investment period. The initiative seeks companies with functional products that demonstrate real-world utility and measurable social outcomes, particularly benefiting children and their communities. Woman-led startups and young founders are strongly encouraged to apply.
Selected startups will leverage blockchain technologies to enhance operational efficiency, transparency, and accountability in existing services, provide verifiable proofs of impact, expand financial inclusion, and implement automated, tamper-proof reporting systems. They may also explore innovative web3 mechanisms for fundraising, community engagement, and tokenized impact delivery, while supporting local governance and self-sustaining local economies. Additionally, the initiative emphasizes the development of digital public goods, open-source platforms, decentralized community engagement tools, and sustainable business models to scale their adoption.
To be eligible, startups must be private companies registered in a UNICEF programme country, be willing to adopt open-source licensing, have an existing prototype with promising pilot results, and demonstrate the potential to positively impact vulnerable children while generating measurable, publicly exposed real-time data. Solutions should align with UNICEF’s Innovation Principles and emphasize transparency, efficiency, and social impact.
For more information, visit UNICEF.
