UNICEF Innovation Fund

What is UNICEF Innovation Fund?

The UNICEF Innovation Fund is a pooled funding vehicle specifically designed to finance early-stage, open-source technology that benefits children. Launched by UNICEF, the fund focuses on investing in solutions that have been developed in new and emerging markets, emphasizing the importance of solutions being open source to enable scalability and accessibility.

With an investment thesis centered on generating significant impact for the most vulnerable children, the Innovation Fund targets technologies across a spectrum of evolving sectors such as blockchain, UAVs, virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing, machine learning, quantum computing, genetic engineering, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), nano-satellites, and human dynamics.

The fund supports solutions that have the potential to be transformed into sustainable platforms through additional investment and growth.

Committed to innovation, the fund offers up to $100,000 in seed funding and up to $400,000 in growth funding in USD and/or cryptocurrency to startups registered in UNICEF programme countries. It also provides startups with tailored mentorship from in-house experts, focusing on key areas such as value proposition refinement, open source development, evidence of impact, business strategy, product design, and equity and inclusion.

Companies can also tap into UNICEF's extensive network and partnerships for potential follow-on funding and other support. Startups are expected to provide publicly exposed real-time data that is measurably beneficial for children and youth, making their progress and insights accessible for broader impact.

Moreover, the fund contributes to building Digital Public Goods, supporting solutions that adhere to open source standards and thereby fostering a collective ecosystem of resources for public benefit. By investing only in open source technologies, the UNICEF Innovation Fund amplifies its impact, creating opportunities for wide-scale implementation and adaptation to multiple contexts and challenges faced by children around the world.

What they say:

We are a pooled funding vehicle designed to quickly assess and support innovative ventures.

What we look for: We invest in and grow open-source solutions, particularly in quantum computing.