Tech For Good Startups aiming to make an Impact

by Startacus Admin

While much big business has some small department set up for charitable works and philanthropy, few make social good their core ideal. For that, we often have to look to startups. From money-for-nothing charitable giving to protecting densely-packed communities from fire, technology-powered social good - or philanthropy tech - PhilTech for short (cheers, Amy Williams of Good-Loop for aiming to coin that phrase) - ‘Tech for Good’ startups can be found across the globe. Here are just a handful...

Humaniq

Blockchain-based fintech platform Humaniq, which aims to bring the developing world into the technological world, has just joined Barclays’ Techstars ThinkRise Accelerator. Set to begin its first trials in Africa shortly. ‘Profit with a Purpose’ startup Humaniq, is aiming to reach and offer banking services to the two billion unbanked people across the world by developing a completely new banking experience by removing the traditional barriers banks such as the need to come to a branch, doing endless paperwork, dealing with hard-to-use, buggy mobile apps, and protecting data with hard-to-remember, complex passwords. They have created a safe, strong financial tool, specifically designed to be used by people who are undereducated or who don’t possess identification.

Chatterbox

There are over 117,000 people with refugee status living in the UK. Despite having above average levels of education and training, refugees in the UK are much more likely to be unemployed and in poverty.  The flip side of this is that the UK is suffering from a deficit in language skills that costs the economy an estimated £48 billion in missed trading opportunities.Bingo! Step forward, Chatterbox, who match under-utilised refugee talent with opportunities in the demand for their language skills, offering online and in-person language tuition delivered by refugees. Chatterbox train and employ refugees to use their existing language skills and experience and gain stimulating employment in the language services sector, benefiting both them and wider society, and at the same time provide engaging language learning services for individuals, education providers, and workplaces. A win-win we hope you agree. Their social enterprise is committed to operating in the most socially and environmentally responsible way, with a promise to reinvest 100% of their profits into the enterprise to ensure the fulfilment of our mission.

ChariTable Bookings

ChariTable Bookings is an app that allows users to book a table at any one of 7,798 UK restaurants and do good for a chosen charity at no extra cost. For every booking that is honoured, the restaurant in question is charged £2, £1 of which goes to whichever charity the user has nominated. All you have to do is book and turn up, and you will have done some charitable good!

WhaleSlide

We have written about WhaleSlide before, and it is worth mentioning again. This privacy-centric search engine allows you to pick a charity, and whenever you make a purchase online with one of WhaleSlide’s growing number of partners, a donation will be make to your charity at no extra cost to you. The minimalistic no tracking, no advertising search engine also allows you to create collections of content and share it will the world.

Good-Loop

Good-Loop, a profit for purpose startup, aims to put an end to bad, intrusive advertising online, and do a lot of good at the same time. Whenever Good-Loop hosted video advertising is watched by a user for at least 15 seconds, a full 50% of the brand’s payment goes to charity. By watching the full video, users can double the donation by taking a small amount of extra action.  Good-Loop are working with a wide range of charities and strive to be as open and transparent as possible about every donation made. Good-Loop is also part of the Collider 2017 Class, an accelerator program dedicated to marketing and advertising startups, so we expect to see and hear more from Good-Loop over the coming months.

Lumkani

Lumkani is a South African social enterprise dedicated to addressing the risk of fire in informal urban settlements. In such settlements, the spread of fire can be rapid, due to the proximity of shacks. The early-warning system created by Lumkani is basically a fire detector and alarm that links the community, allowing neighbours a heads-up when there is a fire starting nearby. Their newest version stores GPS coordinates and sends texts to members of the affected community. Soon, these alarms will also alert the nearest emergency services.

Giraffe

Another South African startup, Giraffe seeks to counteract the increase in unemployment in South Africa caused by lack of access (e.g. poor internet in townships outside of big cities). Giraffe is a mobile recruitment app aimed at medium-skilled workers looking for jobs like receptionist, cashier, call centre agent, etc. Jobseekers can create a free, simple CV on their mobile phone, and when businesses submit their requirements to Giraffe, the automated system will find the most suitable candidates from the jobseekers on their database.

Impacton

Impacton is dedicated to collecting the projects of those working across the globe to solve the world’s biggest challenges, and spread those projects around wherever they are needed. These are blueprints of impactful, proven projects in areas from migration and refugees, to recycling and sustainability, to natural disasters and climate change. These blueprints allow working projects to be duplicated quickly wherever they are needed, and those who do so will have less trouble raising funding, because the project will already be proven elsewhere.

Honourable Mention: GiveMeTap!

GiveMeTap cannot any longer be classed as a startup; however, our paths have crossed before and we thought they were well worth a mention. GiveMeTap sells water bottles. It’s simple. But for every water bottle they sell, they fund water pumps in communities across Africa, giving access to clean, safe water that those communities otherwise would not have. Since 2011, they have sold 65,545 bottles and installed 20 water projects, helping over 16,000 people gain permanent access to clean water.

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Published on: 22nd May 2017