UNICEF Venture Fund 2024 Gender-Responsive Innovation Challenge

About the UNICEF Venture Fund 2024

UNICEF is inviting applications for its Venture Fund 2024 Call: Gender-Responsive Innovation Challenge. The UNICEF Venture Fund 2024 is dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusivity in its support for early-stage investing and fostering groundbreaking innovations created by startups that utilize cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), data science (DS), drones, blockchain, or extended reality (XR). These innovations are intended to meet the unaddressed requirements of marginalized and underserved children and their families.

The Gender-Responsive Innovation Challenge (GRIC) has been launched in collaboration with GITEX Africa by the Venture Fund 2024. This challenge aims to address the structural and systemic barriers in the technology sector that lead to the dominance of certain types of solutions and founders. The UNICEF Venture Fund is seeking to promote inclusive and gender-responsive innovation in three key areas.:

Area 1: Investing in diverse and underrepresented founders (especially women founders)

Area 2: Increasing the availability of digital products and services that can solve the specific unmet needs of vulnerable and underrepresented populations (such as children, women, people living with disabilities and refugees)

Area 3: Facilitating inclusive user design in the development of innovation to

The Gender-Responsive Inclusive Companies (GRIC) initiative presents a unique opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate companies that are at the forefront of developing solutions and conducting business in Africa with a strong focus on gender responsiveness. The main goal of GRIC is to pinpoint, acknowledge, and provide support to companies that are actively contributing to closing the gender gap through their operations and initiatives.

Available Fields

We are currently seeking investment opportunities in companies that utilize machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, or extended reality (virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR)) technologies to develop software solutions aimed at addressing the four main categories of digital risks to children: Content, Contact, Conduct, and Contract Risks.

Eligibility Criteria

Five exceptional businesses that demonstrate gender-responsive innovation will be chosen by the Venture Fund and given an award:

The companies that have been nominated will be assessed and chosen as the challenge winners by a selection committee consisting of GITEX Africa and UNICEF Venture Fund, based on the predetermined criteria.

Winners of the GRIC will be revealed during the GITEX Africa Summit, which takes place in Marrakech, Morocco, from May 29–31.

To improve their investment readiness and chances of receiving future funding from the Venture Fund, companies will receive technical support and mentorship from the fund’s experts. It will include:

10 hours of technical mentoring consisting of Open Source, business development, frontier technology, software development, diversity, equity, and inclusion mentorship,
Additional support to understand and navigate the Venture Fund sourcing and selection process.

In order to foster greater equity and trust across technological solutions, the Venture Fund is still looking to collaborate with partners who share its values in order to support innovation challenges, design sprints, and provide strategic technical assistance.

Should your organization develop a cutting-edge technology solution to tackle gender inequality in Africa, please apply for this opportunity.

Benefits of the UNICEF Venture Fund 2024

Companies will receive mentorship and technical assistance from Venture Fund experts to enhance their investment readiness and potential for future funding from the Venture Fund. It will comprise:

10 hours of technical mentoring consisting of Open Source, business development, frontier technology, software development, diversity, equity, and inclusion mentorship,
Additional support to understand and navigate the Venture Fund sourcing and selection process.

How to Apply

Interested in applying for the UNICEF venture fund 2024? Then take note of the following details to aid your application:

Please ensure to read the entire Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) document, which can be found by clicking on the provided link.
Submit your Expression of Interest by following the instructions provided above.
Prior to submitting your application, it is crucial to review all the application requirements on the Award Webpage thoroughly. You can access the webpage by clicking on the link provided below.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY!