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The Tunisian startup Utopixar is one of six companies in developing economies selected to receive investment from the UNICEF Innovation Fund to solve global challenges using blockchain technology.
Disruption Africa reported that in January the UNICEF Innovation Fund was trying to support startups in the early stages to develop blockchain-based solutions with "the potential for humanity", and six companies of the whole world have been announced as beneficiaries up to 100,000 US dollars – free financing
One of these is the Tunisian development study Utopixar, which will use funding for the next 12 months providing a tool for social collaboration for communities and organizations to facilitate participatory decision-making and value transfer.
The other companies financed were Atix Labs (Argentina), Onesmart (Mexico), Prescrypto (Mexico), Statwig (India) and W3 Engineers (Bangladesh). They have been selected by over 100 applications in 50 countries and have joined other 20 technology startups currently under the management of the fund in areas such as machine learning, virtual reality and drones.
"The blockchain technology is still at an early stage, and there's a great deal of experimentation, failure and learning ahead of us when we see how and where we can use this technology to create a better world," said Chris Fabian, principal adviser at UNICEF Innovation. "This is exactly the phase in which the UNICEF Innovation Fund invests: when our funding, technical support and attention to vulnerable populations can help a technology to grow and mature in the most just and fairest way possible ".
These investments are part of the major blockchain explorations of UNICEF on the use of intelligent contracts for organizational efficiency, the creation of distributed decision-making processes and the work to build knowledge and understanding of distributed accounting technology both in the United Nations and in the countries in which UNICEF operates.
In addition to funding start-ups, the fund will also provide assistance for products and technologies, support for business growth and access to a network of experts and partners. In addition, it actively seeks investment and second-tier support for the companies in which it has invested, as well as the opportunity to enhance these technologies when they succeed, in more than 190 countries and territories in which UNICEF operates.
