Crypto For Good Fund IV — Ecosystem Insights
In this blog, we provide an overview of the Crypto For Good landscape in emerging markets. These findings are based on more than 800 proposals received from the past three iterations of the Crypto For Good Fund, and offer unique insights to builders, funders, and others working on real world web3 use cases for financial and climate resilience in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
In brief
Since 2022, we have screened more than 800 real world web3 use cases in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Here are a few themes we’ve identified from over 200 proposals from Crypto For Good Fund IV:
Crypto is global, with web3 teams operational in 60+ emerging markets
Africa is leading the way (64% of pipeline); Latin America and Asia represented 15% and 9%, respectively
Top 5 countries: Nigeria (global #2 per Chainalysis), Kenya (#28), Uganda(#34), India(#1) and Ethiopia (#26)
2. Builders are leveraging web3 tech to solve for a variety of intractable societal challenges
31% are working on Regenerative Finance (ReFi)/Decentralized Finance (DeFi) solutions; an additional 14% are focused on climate innovation
17% are using web3 tech to improve humanitarian aid delivery
15% are focused on RWAs / asset tokenization; 14% are building on- and off-ramps to web3
3. Solutions are focused on underserved populations
22% are building for low-income populations
Another 22% are developing solutions for microentrepreneurs or small/medium enterprises (MSMEs)
18% are building for smallholder farmers; 12% are developing solutions for youth; 10% are focused on migrants, refugees or displaced persons
The next billion users will come from the Global South, where web3 can solve real world pain points for the 1.4 billion unbanked and 3.3 billion climate-vulnerable people around the world.
4. Builder activity is fragmented across multiple chains
Over 25 different blockchains are represented in our data — Ethereum and L2s lead the way (Polygon, Celo, Base and Optimism), along with Solana
Only 6% of builders are focused exclusively on one chain — the average builder plans to launch on ~4 chains; 9% are on 4+ chains
A cross-chain ecosystem needs to develop which prioritizes user needs and interoperability in emerging markets.
5. However, the market is still nascent, with most products and companies still in the early stages
Only 22% had products deployed (soft or fully launched), while the large majority were still under development
Only 31% had completed a formal fundraising round (pre-seed+), while only 8% had raised $1M+
57% of companies have users, but only 11% have more than 1,000 users
Dedicated impact venture capital and post-investment support is required to support web3 founders in emerging markets.
“We remain deeply committed to the role that web3 technologies can play in building financial and climate resilience in emerging markets. The Crypto For Good Fund is a unique vehicle funding impactful real world use cases and building the evidence base for how crypto can be used for good. We are thrilled to continue supporting passionate builders in this space..”
Scott Onder, Managing Director, Mercy Corps Ventures
In November 2024, Mercy Corps Ventures launched the fourth edition of the Crypto For Good Fund. The high-level objective remained unchanged: fund impactful real world web3 use cases to drive global financial inclusion and climate resilience across emerging markets, building an evidence base to prove the scalability of blockchain-enabled solutions in creating positive, lasting change.
The call for proposals attracted over 200 high-quality applications from more than 60 countries, with significant representation from underrepresented and gender-diverse teams.
DeFi, ReFi, humanitarian aid delivery, RWAs, climate innovation and ramps are the most web3 popular use cases in the Global South.
Almost three-quarters of the applicants are building for MSMEs, low-income users, smallholder farmers and youth.
EVM chains (Polygon, Ethereum, Celo) are most popular, with Solana and BNB also in the top-5; average builder is live on 1.8 chains
For inquiries or collaboration opportunities, contact Kenneth Kou (Head of Venture Lab): kkou@mercycorps.org