Mercy Corps Ventures AI for Financial Resilience Initiative 2025 for Startups ($50,000 equity-free Funding)

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Applications are open for Mercy Corps Ventures AI for Financial Resilience Initiative 2025. MCV’s AI for Financial Resilience initiative leverages AI, blockchain, and emerging technologies to close financial service gaps for unbanked, underbanked, and climate-vulnerable populations in emerging markets, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The initiative pilots and scales solutions such as AI-driven insurance, parametric credit, savings via bond tokenization, and anticipatory cash transfers and remittances, aiming to improve financial access, economic resilience, and trust in digital finance.

Mercy Corps Ventures AI for Financial Resilience Program Goals

Expand financial inclusion and resilience through innovation: Leverage AI, blockchain, and other emerging tech to create accessible, affordable financial services (insurance, credit, savings, remittances) for unbanked and low-income individuals.
Bridge climate resilience and financial access: Pilot and scale solutions that enable vulnerable communities to withstand—and thrive despite—climate shocks via improved protection mechanisms.
Build robust evidence and share sector learnings: Produce insights and best practices to inform future investments and replicate effective models across markets.

Scope

Mercy Corps Ventures AI for Financial Resilience Program is looking for innovative financial products for unbanked and underbanked people in emerging markets. This can range rom using AI to drive financial literacy through education and training to increasing access to insurance, savings, credit, and emergency payments using AI- and blockchain-powered digital financial products.

Primary beneficiaries: Unbanked and underbanked populations, with a strong emphasis on low-income individuals, women, immigrants, and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Geographic focus: Emerging markets, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mercy Corps Ventures AI for Financial Resilience Benefits

To selected startups, MCV will provide:

Financial support: Milestone-based, equity-free grants of up to $50,000 per startup
In-kind support: mentorship, impact measurement advisory, access to partnership opportunities, knowledge exchange, and brand exposure.

Selection Criteria

Impact first
- How will this proposal build financial resilience for unbanked people in emerging markets? Who will be reached, how many people, and to what depth of impact?
Innovation edge
- How ‘first-of-a-kind’ is this solution? What signal would this send to the wider ecosystem?
Sustainability
- What is the business model? How will this product sustainably scale to build financial resilience for millions of unbanked people?
Likelihood of success
- What’s the technological readiness level? Does the partner have a captive user base? What’s the likelihood of seeing results within the pilot timeframe?