Looking for Seed Funding? Apply for UNICEF’s $90,000 Equity-Free Innovation Fund

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for entries for its Innovation Fund, a programme which has been specifically designed to enable UNICEF to quickly assess, fund and grow open-source solutions that can improve children’s lives.

According to the body, the aim of the fund is to ensure that ” Financial and technological support is available for companies that are using technology in innovative ways to improve the world.” One of the key criteria is that applicants must have “a strong founding team” and demonstrate “a clear path to improving the lives of children“.

If you’ve got a start-up registered in one of UNICEF’s programme countries and have a working, open source prototype (hardware or software) showing promising results, the UNICEF Innovation Fund is looking for you. You can check out a complete list of UNICEF’s programme countries here.

According to UNICEF, the focus is on solutions that are clustered around the $100billion industries in frontier technology spaces, such as blockchain, UAVs, virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing, machine learning, quantum computing, genetic engineering, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, nano-satellites and human dynamics.

According to Disrupt Africa, UNICEF will provide technical assistance to winners through its Ventures team, in addition to seed funding. This includes a dedicated blockchain lead and computer science team hosting and data sharing platforms. Selected startups will also work with expert mentors, and be connected to UNICEF’s network in order to assist in scaling and maximising impact.

The investment is equity-free. And, UNICEF has created a website which provides an overview of The Fund and allows investors to monitor the progress of each investment in real-time.

So, are you looking for seed funding for your open source tech startup? You can apply here. Applications are open until February 28