Startup Europe Awards

Helperbit is the Italian winner of Fintech category

Country: Italy

Category:  Fintech

Project Aim: creation ofdonationtransparency platform, through the blockchain, using the math-based currency bitcoin.

The Creation of HELPERBIT:

Helperbit is an Italian startup born from an idea of the engineer Guido Baroncini Turricchia, as a result of the increased awareness about inefficiencies in the management of funds for humanitarian emergencies.

Realizing in how many scandals the emergency management had been involved after the earthquake in L’aquila, Guido Baroncini Turricchia came with the idea: to use the blockchain public register to make visible the flow of money.

What is the problem to solve?

National and international organizations, UN agencies and governments allocate funds to mitigate the devastating effects of natural disasters, supporting the needs of the concerned population. But there are problems related to inefficiency, opacity, delays in the distribution and bad administration of funds. These issues lead to a lack of trust in the institutions and the organizations involved, which results in a drop in donations.

The insurance system related to natural disasters faces similar problems. Complexity of the refund process, bureaucracy, lack of trust of the clients toward the insurance companies…

What does FINTECH do?

A parametric p2p insurance service for the pre disaster phase service and when the event happens, a P2p donation system that empowers donors to have more control over their donations. Developed solutions:

Transactions are made through the blockchain, using the math-based currency bitcoin. It is not necessary that the donor or the recipient use this method, as we have already integrated credit and debit card donations.

The platform doesn’t charge additional costs related to charitable transactions because the business model is based on the insurance premium service. Thanks to premium service individuals will be able to subscribe a blockchain –based policy that will cover collateral damages caused by natural disasters through a fair, transparent and automated system.

What did Helperbit accomplished?

The startup launched the donation transparency platform in November 2017 in the Italian parliament and more than 10 non-profit organization are already raising funds with this innovative approach.

Helperbit has been selected for the blockchainSpace accelerator program and has been featured on Nasdaq, techcrunch and many more. Helperbit won 4 Italian and European startup competition awards and was selected in the top 100 innovative projects for the world humanitarian summit, which was sponsored by the United nation.