Last Updated on May 11, 2023
The UNICEF Venture Fund is looking to make up to US$100K in equity-free investments to provide early-stage (seed) funding to for-profit start-ups developing frontier technology solutions that can positively impact the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children and youth.
If your product is registered in one of UNICEF’s programme countries, is a working prototype, has demonstrated results, and is (or could be) open-source licensed, they encourage you to apply.
Funding
- Selected companies will receive $100,000 Equity Free Funding
Eligibility
Only entities that fulfill these mandatory requirements will be eligible:
- Registered as a private company.
- A private company registered in a UNICEF programme country.
- Working on open source technology solutions (or willing to be open source) under the following licenses or their equivalent:
- for software, a BSD license,
- for design or content, a CC-BY license
- An existing prototype of the open source solution with promising results from initial pilots.
- Solution has the potential to positively impact the lives of the most vulnerable children.
- Generating publicly exposed real-time data that can be/is measured.
Evaluation Criteria
The following criteria will be used:
- Relevance of solution for children and young people, problem-solution fit and potential for application at global scale
- Novelty of project and alignment with Innovation Principles
- Suitability of the team and key personnel to implement the project
- Project budget and financing
Application
- Step I: Check Eligibility: Interested companies are required to check the eligibility of the Innovation Fund.
- Step II: Submit Application: Interested companies are required to submit an online application through the Fund website. You should provide the information and supporting documents indicated in the form.
- Step III: Submit Request for Proposal: The Innovation Fund reviews all applications and notifies companies of the decision. Shortlisted applicants are invited to submit a detailed proposal, this is called the Request for Proposal (RFP) step.
- Step IV: Demo Interview: After a careful review, companies shortlisted at the RFP step are invested for an online demo interview. This is usually a 30 minutes interview the with Innovation Fund team and experts from the tech teams.
- Step V: Final Result: Based on a complete assessment of the application, RFP and interview, the Innovation Fund makes the final investment decision and notifies all selected companies.
For more information, visit UNICEF Venture Fund.
Deadline: July 28, 2023