Applications are now open for the UNICEF Venture Fund 2023 for Frontier Tech Solutions . The UNICEF Venture Fund is looking to make up to US$ 100 million in non-equity investments to provide early-stage (seed) funding to for-profit startups developing frontier technology solutions that can positively impact the lives of the world's most independent children and young people.
If your product is registered in one of UNICEF's programme countries, is a working prototype, shows demonstrated results and is (or could be) open-source licensed, they encourage you to apply.
Financing
- The selected companies chose US$ 100,000 in non-equity financing
Eligibility
Only organisations that purchase 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 wishing to be open source) under the following licences or equivalent:
- for software, a BSD licence,
- for design or content, a CC-BY licence
- An existing prototype of the open source solution with promising results from the initial pilots.
- The solution has the potential to positively impact the lives of the most vulnerable children.
- Generate publicly exposed real-time data that can be/is measured.
Evaluation criteria
The following criteria will be used:
- Relevance of the solution for children and young people, problem-solution fit and potential for application on a global scale
- Novelty of the project and alignment with the Innovation Principles
- Suitability of the team and key personnel to implement the project
- Budget and project funding
Application
- Step I: Check eligibility Interested companies should check their eligibility for the Innovation Fund.
- Stage II: Submit application Interested companies must submit an online application via the Fund's website. They must provide the information and supporting documents indicated on the form.
- Step III: Send Request for Proposal The Innovation Fund analyses all the applications and notifies the companies of its decision. Shortlisted candidates are invited to submit a detailed proposal, called the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage.
- Stage IV: Demonstration interview: After careful analysis, the companies shortlisted at the RFP stage are investigated for an online demo interview. This is usually a 30-minute interview with Innovation Fund staff and experts from the technology teams.
- Stage V: Final Results: Based on a thorough evaluation of the application, RFP and interview, the Innovation Fund makes the final investment decision and notifies all the selected companies.
For more information, visitUNICEF Venture Fund.
