Lighthouse MASSIV, a program dedicated to finding the next impact unicorn, is pleased to announce its inaugural class.
Less than four months after Mastercard announced the launch of the program at Slush, the organizers are ready to reveal the companies that will participate in the Spring program later this month in Copenhagen.
With Lighthouse MASSIV, Mastercard is doubling down on its commitment to help social impact initiatives scale through partnership. “Lighthouse MASSIV’s vision is to become an ‘impact unicorn factory’ that will help people through products and partnerships” says Mats Taraldsson, Head of Fintech Engagement at Mastercard Nordics and Baltics. “At its core, MASSIV is an open innovation program like Lighthouse, which means that it works by helping companies partner with strong ecosystem players to deliver tangible results.”
The companies joining the program in Copenhagen have been chosen because of their willingness and ability to scale sustainable partnerships. Mastercard, together with Invenio Growth, its partner in running Lighthouse MASSIV, hopes to further enhance these lasting collaborations to the benefit of the world.
Meet the first
Lighthouse MASSIV
Class of 2020:
Hiveonline x Technology and Telecom Partners
Hiveonline is a Copenhagen-based lender that helps micro-businesses reach credit and market opportunities with a reputation score based on their behavior, not their bank account. By partnering with a mobile operating system maker, Hiveonline hopes to make financial services accessible to the millions of Africans who only have access to feature phones today.
Desert Control x Reforestation Project Partners
Desert Control is an Stavanger-based ClimateTech company that uses a patented clay product to help sandy soils retain water and nutrients. The company wants to partner charities and other organizations that can help execute reforestation projects such as the Great Green Belt of Africa, an effort to reforest the Sahara Desert.
RedFlash x Payment Partners
Red Flash is a Stockholm-based micro-taxation platform that helps African governments connect to the informal sector. Red Flash is looking to work with payment providers that will help the business collect fees for its services directly from the payments it facilitates—thereby reducing the risk of collection and enabling Red Flash to continue its mission of creating sustainable growth via autonomous governments.
Jamii.one x Local Bank Partners
Jamii.one is a Copenhagen-based financial services app that connects unbanked women and their savings groups to the internet and, ultimately, the banking system. By working with local banks, Jamii.one hopes to build deeper relationships with business across Africa.
Aion Sigma x AI Technology Partners
Aion is a Helsinki-based security company that leases smart phones to African consumers and SMEs that do not have prior internet or credit history. Aion hopes that its partnership with leading AI technology companies can improve Aion’s risk scoring so that it can offer the lowest possible interest rates, thus making the internet even more accessible to the world’s consumers.
Normative x Accounting Software Partners
Normative is a Stockholm-based software company that provides sustainability reporting software to SMEs, large corporates and private equity firms around the world. The company is looking to partner with accounting software providers so that it can make sustainability reporting as automatic and integral to a company as financial reporting is today.
Advisory Board
As part of the Lighthouse MASSIV program, companies receive feedback and support from seven advisory board members. These board members represent sustainability experts, investors, and executives, each with their own global network:
Brand Manager, Business coach, Impact Start up, National Advisoryboard Impact investing
“Very excited to collaborate with impact driven Nordic start-ups using technology to tackle some of this world major issues… Hope to contribute to
their success!”
Houda Lemrini
Stockholm-based Director of Strategy and M&A at Deloitte
Lighthouse MASSIV and Copenhagen Fintech Collaboration
Lighthouse is also happy to announce its collaboration with Copenhagen Fintech’s social impact program, which targets the earliest stage companies working on sustainability and financial inclusion. Four companies from this program will be invited to join Lighthouse MASSIV throughout the program.
”We are excited to join forces with Lighthouse MASSIV to help early-stage fintech companies build a more sustainable future in the Nordics and beyond – and look forward to working closely with a great cohort of talented entrepreneurs with strong commercial solutions that can make a real positive impact”
– Oliver Sjöstedt, Head of Startup Growth at Copenhagen Fintech.
Meet the
Copenhagen Fintech companies
Betaling Danmark
is a payment service that lets concerned consumers pay their bills via a platform triggering donations to climate action and other causes.
CarbonCountable
helps SMEs to measure, reduce and communicate the CO2 emissions in their operations using bookkeeping data.
IMPACTR
is a social media app and awareness platform focused on champions of the sustainability movement.
Solstroem
offers a system for automatically generating, selling, and retiring carbon offsets in real-time
About Copenhagen Fintech’s incubation program:
The incubation program helps early-stage fintech companies go from idea to validated business activities. The 2020 cohort of the incubator is called ‘Commercializing Impact’ due to Copenhagen Fintech’s strong belief that fintech is in a unique position to solve the world’s biggest problems. “Globally, the Nordics is already well positioned regarding sustainable solutions, and we are determined to continue to push for this agenda by supporting fintech entrepreneurs that can help us build a more sustainable world,” says Oliver Sjöstedt of Copenhagen Fintech. “We share this mission with Lighthouse MASSIV program, and we are joining forces with our two programs to help early stage entrepreneurs to go to market and find commercial partners that can scale their solutions and the impact they wish to make.”
About Lighthouse MASSIV
Mastercard Lighthouse is an open innovation platform designed to make and scale social impact.
Lighthouse MASSIV uses the format of long-term partnerships to scale companies focused on the UN’s sustainable development goals. By providing teams with competitive incentives and preferential access to partner resources, Lighthouse MASSIV aims to foster partnerships that will touch the lives of one billion people in the next five years. Lighthouse MASSIV is designed as a three-stage competition. At the first stage, 8 companies meet with our advisory board—a hand-picked group of executives and partnership experts from around the world—with the express aim to bring a specific partnership to life. Each partnership proposal then receives input from global experts in design, technology and law before reporting the results of their partnership endeavors. The winner of the program is the team that demonstrates the potential to impact the most people via partnership.
