This week in the FinTech Ukraine, more than 1,200 people have received temporary accommodations through Airbnb.org in Europe, and Google will contribute $5 million toward the Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund this year.
Following President Joe Biden’s announcement that the United States will welcome 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine, Airbnb said it is working with the federal government to support free, temporary housing to refugees who may arrive in the country soon.
More than 1,200 people have received temporary accommodations through Airbnb.org in Europe, according to a company blog post. Another 28,600 people have registered to offer their homes to refugees through Airbnb.org, including more than 17,800 across Europe and more than 5,800 in the U.S.
Airbnb said it has received more than $6.8 million in small donations from 73,000 individual donors across 95 countries.
In Google’s continuing effort to ease the humanitarian crisis, the global technology conglomerate announced a $5 million Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund to allocate cash awards this year.
Selected Ukrainian startups will be named on a rolling basis to receive up to $100,000 in funding, Google mentorship, product support and cloud credits, according to a company blog post published Wednesday (March 30).
The Ukrainian government has identified a vibrant startup community in the eastern European country.
Ukraine ranks in the top 30 of startup ecosystems. Kyiv, the largest IT hub in the nation, hosts more than 1,000 startups and product companies. Of the 2,000 startups in Ukraine, 126 have raised venture capital funding since start of the year, according to Pitchbook.
A surge in cryptocurrency donations to support Ukraine in the last four weeks has brought the total to nearly $136 million, TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence firm, announced Wednesday.
An analysis of about four dozen crypto-donation charitable campaigns for Ukraine by the San Francisco-based research company has identified fundraising drives that used novel approaches to raise money. The Russian invasion of Ukraine began Feb. 24.
Of the $136 million raised, government entities, including Aid for Ukraine, the Cyberpolice of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, have received more than $50 million in donations so far.
Nonprofits fueled by Twitter, such as Come Back Alive and UkraineDAO, have received $50 million in contributions by raising money across bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron and Binance Smart Chain.
More than 85% of the campaigns solicited donations in bitcoin and Ethereum, while Tron, Litecoin and Binance Smart Chain followed at a distance.
Donations peaked March 2 with $30 million. Since then, researchers said donations have declined. For the week of March 21, donations averaged $500,000 daily.
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