Village Capital is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit venture capital firm focused on solving real-world problems. MetLife is a global provider of insurance, employee benefits and financial services. Its non-profit MetLife Foundation utilizes grantmaking to help low-to-moderate income families gain access to safe and affordable financial products and services.
The two non-profits will host their first in Ukraine “financial health forum” on October 30th-31st, 2018, at UNIT City in Kyiv. Twelve Ukrainian startups working on fintech solutions to improve financial health for low-to-moderate income families will be invited to participate.
UNIT City, an innovation park in Kyiv (Kiev), and the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA) are helping Village Capital recruit eligible startups. The MetLife Foundation will offer to two finalists grants each worth USD $10,000. Applications for this competition will be accepted through August 24.
Sarah Willis is Director, Financial Health & Inclusion, at the MetLife Foundation and Heather Matranga is the Senior Manager, VilCap Innovations, Village Capital. “We are looking for early-stage startups working on fintech solutions that can improve financial health for families, and unlock access to financial resources for SMEs,” they said.
“We see a lot of opportunity for Ukrainian financial technology (fintech) startups in Ukraine. In our view, fintech has the power to drive financial health outcomes for consumers more quickly and efficiently than traditional brick-and-mortar financial services.”
Applicants must be located in or have a major portion of their operations in Ukraine; be working to improve financial health for low-to-moderate income families; and help to increase the relevance and affordability of savings, credit, payments, and insurance.
In addition to the $10,000 grant for the two finalists, startups selected will participate in two days of business development & investment readiness training. Transportation and accommodations will be paid for firms not located in Kyiv.
The forum is part of a two-year initiative to build startup communities around financial health in Europe and the UAE.
- More details about the Metlife Foundation Financial Health Series can be found here. Previous forums in Poland, the UAE and Turkey awarded grants to fintech startups with applications ranging from digital financial management tools to digital payment apps.
