We are proud to announce that ChatGenie has been one of eight global awardees of the inaugural round of grants from the Strive Community Innovation Fund.

ChatGenie will receive a share of $1 million in total grant funding to further develop and expand the multi-commerce platform supporting small businesses creating online store presences inside Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Viber, GCash, and other super apps. With this funding, ChatGenie is looking to expand its platform to make it available for non-retail e-commerce businesses and online retail brands that undertake manual order processing.

“The innovation grant will definitely help our team continue to pursue initiatives and development of features that will help micro and small businesses to grow their businesses online. We will use it to launch our new product that will allow service-based merchants to accept bookings and appointments adding more growth features for our merchants,” said Ragde Falcis, CEO/CTO & Co-Founder of ChatGenie.

Strive Community is a global philanthropic initiative launched by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth in partnership with Caribou Digital. The initiative is focused on strengthening the resilience of small businesses and supporting their growth. Since companies that struggle to make effective use of new technologies risk being left behind, the Innovation Fund was established to spark truly innovative, digital, and data-first solutions that will boost small businesses’ efforts to go digital. The fund chose its grantees based on four criteria: Significance and Impact, Applicability and Transferability, Feasibility and Sustainability, and Additionality.

“Digital technologies are rapidly transforming the way businesses interact with their customers, with their employees, and with a global marketplace. These Innovation Fund grantees are all introducing creative solutions that have potential to not only ease the challenges of digitization for small businesses, but unlock its promise, enabling them to grow and thrive,” said Shamina Singh, President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

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Joining ChatGenie are seven other winners, chosen from 650 applicants globally, namely Boost Capital (Cambodia), Flourish FI (Brazil), XR Global (Brazil), Open Contracting Partnership (USA/Colombia), FUNDES (Mexico Guatemala, Peru, and Colombia), Novek (Kenya), and Boost Technology Ltd (South Africa, Nigeria).

About the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth 

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth advances equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. The Center leverages the company’s core assets and competencies, including data insights, expertise and technology, while administering the philanthropic Mastercard Impact Fund, to produce independent research, scale global programs and empower a community of thinkers, leaders and doers on the front lines of inclusive growth.

Small businesses can learn more about the Strive Community, funding, and partnership opportunities by visiting Mastercard Strive Community and signing up to receive email updates.

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