At Mercy Corps Ventures, we’ve been investing and co-designing real world web3 use cases through our Crypto For Good work for the past 7+ years. To date, we’ve partnered with 30 companies reaching 3,000,000 users. We’re launching this newsletter to share our perspectives, insights and optimism about the future of crypto for the underserved in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  

Feel free to share this newsletter with anyone who might enjoy some real world crypto. And as always, we’d love to hear from you - reach out and let us know what you’re up to. 

In this edition, we’ll cover: 

💡 Anticipatory Action Accelerator 

🔗 Web3 Happy Hour in Nairobi 

🚀 Updates from Crypto For Good Fund #4 

🤖 Agentic AI for Impact Hackathon (launching soon)

A popular rebuke of crypto over the years has been that there are no real world use cases. Well, as Crypto OG Sheila Warren so eloquently put it on X:

In humanitarian aid, Anticipatory Action is an emerging area which provides aid proactively BEFORE a disaster strikes. While still early days, the results are promising – 7x ROI compared to traditional aid and it allows the recipients to invest in their own resilience.  

Thanks to major advancements in AI, advanced climate analytics are able to predict 55% of climate disasters over a week in advance. However, getting funds to end users in rural communities has historically been slow and expensive. This is where crypto comes in. 

In the Horn of Africa, we piloted this solution with pastoralists, sending stablecoins BEFORE the onset of drought so they could purchase supplies, move their livestock, fortify their housing, etc.  

We believe so strongly in this being the future of humanitarian aid – increasing program efficiency in an era of declining budgets but increasing number of people in need – that we have launched a first-of-a-kind Anticipatory Action Accelerator. The program’s goals are: 

1️⃣ In the immediate term, identify promising Anticipatory Action solutions and fund their implementation to better prepare climate-vulnerable people for the effects of climate change 

2️⃣ Across a portfolio of pilots, build the evidence base on how Anticipatory Action can represent a more responsive, efficient and just future for humanitarian aid 

3️⃣ Scale up Anticipatory Action programs around the world and crowd-in new capital to this solution 

Selected partners will receive $100,000 in grant funding. The application deadline is February 28th. We hope you’ll join us! 

Want to learn more?: 

• Have you heard of Anticipatory Action?

• Fortune - How crypto empowers communities

• Anticipatory Action Accelerator Launch 

• Application form 

• Scott on Cointelegraph's The Agenda podcast

  ---

In other news, we just co-hosted the Web3 Mixer at Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi. It was great to see so many builders and investors in the space. We were blown away by the optimism and ambition, and are eager to continuously expand the role of crypto in Africa and beyond.

Related, as an update to everyone who applied for the fourth Crypto For Good Fund, our team is hard at work reviewing the applications. This cycle, we received a record number of proposals and will be reaching out with a status update shortly. Check your inboxes (and spam folders)! 

As a teaser for our upcoming work, stay tuned as we announce our next major initiative. With the accelerated rise of Agentic AI, we’ll be exploring the bounds of impact, philanthropy, and financial and climate innovation through a hackathon to develop solutions for emerging markets. More to come!  

Please reach out if any of the above interests you. Feel free to pass this along and we look forward to hearing from you. 

Scott 

At Mercy Corps Ventures, we’ve been investing and co-designing real world web3 use cases through our Crypto For Good work for the past 7+ years. To date, we’ve partnered with 30 companies reaching 3,000,000 users. We’re launching this newsletter to share our perspectives, insights and optimism about the future of crypto for the underserved in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  

Feel free to share this newsletter with anyone who might enjoy some real world crypto. And as always, we’d love to hear from you - reach out and let us know what you’re up to. 

In this edition, we’ll cover: 

💡 Anticipatory Action Accelerator 

🔗 Web3 Happy Hour in Nairobi 

🚀 Updates from Crypto For Good Fund #4 

🤖 Agentic AI for Impact Hackathon (launching soon)

A popular rebuke of crypto over the years has been that there are no real world use cases. Well, as Crypto OG Sheila Warren so eloquently put it on X:

In humanitarian aid, Anticipatory Action is an emerging area which provides aid proactively BEFORE a disaster strikes. While still early days, the results are promising – 7x ROI compared to traditional aid and it allows the recipients to invest in their own resilience.  

Thanks to major advancements in AI, advanced climate analytics are able to predict 55% of climate disasters over a week in advance. However, getting funds to end users in rural communities has historically been slow and expensive. This is where crypto comes in. 

In the Horn of Africa, we piloted this solution with pastoralists, sending stablecoins BEFORE the onset of drought so they could purchase supplies, move their livestock, fortify their housing, etc.  

We believe so strongly in this being the future of humanitarian aid – increasing program efficiency in an era of declining budgets but increasing number of people in need – that we have launched a first-of-a-kind Anticipatory Action Accelerator. The program’s goals are: 

1️⃣ In the immediate term, identify promising Anticipatory Action solutions and fund their implementation to better prepare climate-vulnerable people for the effects of climate change 

2️⃣ Across a portfolio of pilots, build the evidence base on how Anticipatory Action can represent a more responsive, efficient and just future for humanitarian aid 

3️⃣ Scale up Anticipatory Action programs around the world and crowd-in new capital to this solution 

Selected partners will receive $100,000 in grant funding. The application deadline is February 28th. We hope you’ll join us! 

Want to learn more?: 

• Have you heard of Anticipatory Action?

• Fortune - How crypto empowers communities

• Anticipatory Action Accelerator Launch 

• Application form 

• Scott on Cointelegraph's The Agenda podcast

  ---

In other news, we just co-hosted the Web3 Mixer at Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi. It was great to see so many builders and investors in the space. We were blown away by the optimism and ambition, and are eager to continuously expand the role of crypto in Africa and beyond.

Related, as an update to everyone who applied for the fourth Crypto For Good Fund, our team is hard at work reviewing the applications. This cycle, we received a record number of proposals and will be reaching out with a status update shortly. Check your inboxes (and spam folders)! 

As a teaser for our upcoming work, stay tuned as we announce our next major initiative. With the accelerated rise of Agentic AI, we’ll be exploring the bounds of impact, philanthropy, and financial and climate innovation through a hackathon to develop solutions for emerging markets. More to come!  

Please reach out if any of the above interests you. Feel free to pass this along and we look forward to hearing from you. 

Scott