Science Card has developed a platform that allow UK consumers to fund university research in healthcare, computing, and climate change by making purchases with a Mastercard-powered debit card.
Users can set up a free account and select the projects they want to support. As they make transactions, Science Card will automatically round up the amounts and contribute these funds to the selected projects. Customers can increase their contributions up to 10 times and customize their donations for each project.
“The UK is a world leader when it comes to research and development, with huge potential to advance the areas of health, technology and combating climate change,” said Daniel Baeriswyl, PhD, Founder of Science Card in a prepared statement. “Our mission is to bridge the gap between science and financial services, empowering people to shape our sustainable future, and enabling them to drive game-changing breakthroughs and innovations in science and tech, all by just going about their everyday spending.”
Ambitious Plans
Some of the healthcare projects available through Science Card include research on kidney transplants and cervical cancer treatments. The company also announced support for a research project focused on neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s at University College London’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, with a funding goal of £499,955.
For a platform that launched earlier this year, Science Card has ambitious plans—it aims to reach over two million customers and fund millions in scientific research by 2028.
The company hopes to expand its model to Europe and the U.S. and establish partnerships with top universities worldwide. In addition to user contributions, 10% of Science Card’s profits are directed towards its sourced research projects.
For its part, Mastercard continues to partner with businesses that are pushing the envelope on multiple fronts. The credit card giant just announced a crypto debit card it launched in collaboration with Baanx that can convert the crypto in MetaMask’s self-custodial wallets to fiat at the point of sale.
