Deadline: ongoing
Open to: owners of a start-up registered in one of UNICEF’s programme countries showing promising results
Scholarship: USD 50-90,000 equity-free investments

DESCRIPTION

The UNICEF Innovation Fund is looking to make USD 50-90,000 equity-free investments to provide early stage (seed) finance to for-profit technology start-ups that have the potential to benefit humanity.

If you’ve got a start-up registered in one of UNICEF’s programme countries and have a working, open source prototype (or you are willing to make it open-source) showing promising results, the UNICEF Innovation Fund is looking for you.

ELIGIBILITY

– You must be registered as a private company in a UNICEF programme country;
– You are working on open source technology solutions or willing to be open-source under the following licenses or their equivalent: BSD (software), CERN (hardware), or CC-BY (content);
– You have an existing prototype of the solution with promising results from initial pilots;
– Your solution has the potential to positively impact the lives of children.

BENEFITS

• Seed funding. The Fund provides USD 50- USD 90,000 in equity-free seed funding. The money is intended for prototype testing and validation, and to get it to a stage where the company has proof that the solution works.
• Product and technology development. Selected startups will receive technical assistance from the UNICEF Ventures team to help validate and improve their solutions
• Business Growth. The Fund taps into a network of mentors who help startup teams develop their business model and strategy to grow their company and ultimately profit.
• Data networks and platforms. UNICEF Ventures has a dedicated Data Science team hosting and sharing data platforms, and with access to corporate partnerships and use cases that selected start-ups can benefit from.
• Maximize impact. As the world’s leading organization for children, UNICEF has a network of experts and partners across its Country Offices who can provide geographically localized advice and partnerships needed to reach more users.

HOW TO APPLY?  

In order to apply, please fill the application form.