UNICEF Innovation Fund Call for Applications: Technology Solutions for Child Online Safety ($100K equity-free investments)

Submission Deadline: December 20th 2020

The UNICEF Innovation Fund in partnership with the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and Giga is looking to make up to $100K equity-free investments to provide early stage (seed) finance to for-profit technology start-ups that have the potential to benefit humanity.

If you are a start-up using machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain or extended reality, 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.

Requirements

Projects are assessed by UNICEF Innovation Fund team and recommended for funding to the internal board. Companies need to fulfill the following mandatory requirements to be considered for funding:                                          

• Registered as a private company
• Registered in a UNICEF programme country (see list here)
• Working on open source technology solutions (or willing to be open source) under the following licenses or their equivalent:
• (i) for software, a BSD license, 
• (ii) for hardware, a CERN license and 
• (iii)  a CC-BY 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 is measurable

Application Procedure

Step I: Check Eligility

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. 

Applying to the Fund does not automatically ensure that the submitting company will be selected to participate in next stages of the application process.

UNICEF reserves the right to change or cancel the requirement at any time during the application/selection process. UNICEF also reserves the right to require compliance with additional conditions as and when the investment decision is made. 

Please review the additional information for the Request for Expression of Interest here.

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 min interview the with Innovation Fund team and experts from our 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 the Official Webpage of the UNICEF Innovation Fund Call for Applications: Technology Solutions for Child Online Safety