UNICEF Venture Fund

Catalyzing open-source frontier tech for children

The UNICEF Venture Fund provides up to $100,000 in equity-free capital to early-stage startups developing open-source technologies that improve outcomes for children and young people. Focus areas include artificial intelligence, blockchain, extended reality, robotics, and drone-based solutions that address challenges in education, health, climate resilience, and humanitarian response. Beyond funding, the Venture Fund offers product mentorship, access to UNICEF’s field network, data science support, and opportunities to test solutions in real-world settings. Startups that demonstrate strong proof of concept can graduate to the Growth Portfolio for follow-on financing and partnerships with UNICEF country offices.

Application timeline and process

The Venture Fund issues thematic calls for proposals throughout the year. For the 2025 cycle, anticipate a submission deadline of May 31, 2025. Applications are submitted online via UNICEF’s Innovation Fund portal and require company registration documents, pitch deck, financial statements, and responses to narrative questions. After initial screening, shortlisted teams participate in virtual interviews and technical due diligence. Final investment decisions are announced within three months of the call deadline. Because the fund prioritizes open-source commitment, ensure your technology roadmap includes plans for releasing code and documentation under approved licenses (e.g., MIT, Apache 2.0).

Eligibility and compliance essentials

To qualify, startups must be registered as private companies in a UNICEF programme country (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, or Eastern Europe). The solution must be at prototype stage with initial pilots or user testing completed. UNICEF requires open-source licensing for both software and hardware components; companies must provide public repositories with documentation before the end of the investment period. Ensure your team can comply with UNICEF’s due diligence requirements, including child safeguarding policies, financial audits, and ethical use of data. While not mandatory, gender-balanced leadership teams are strongly encouraged and often viewed favorably.

Crafting a compelling impact narrative

Your application should connect technology innovation to measurable improvements for children. Start by defining the problem: e.g., lack of real-time data on vaccine supply chains, limited access to inclusive education tools, or climate risks threatening rural communities. Use data to quantify the challenge and describe the target users. Explain how your solution leverages frontier tech to address the gap—for instance, using machine learning to predict disease outbreaks, blockchain to create transparent cash transfers, or XR to deliver accessible learning experiences. Highlight user-centered design processes involving children, caregivers, or community organizations. Provide early evidence of impact from pilots, such as improved learning outcomes or reduced delivery time for essential supplies.

Business model and sustainability

The Venture Fund values ventures with sustainable business models that balance impact and revenue. Outline your value proposition, customer segments, and revenue streams (e.g., SaaS subscriptions for ministries of education, service contracts with NGOs, licensing for hardware components). Present a financial model covering three years with assumptions for customer acquisition, pricing, and operating costs. Discuss plans for future fundraising, including potential co-investors, development finance institutions, or corporate partners. Emphasize how open-source licensing coexists with viable business strategy—such as monetizing services, data analytics, or premium integrations while keeping core code open.

Technical readiness and open-source strategy

Demonstrate that your prototype is functional with core features deployed. Provide GitHub links, demo videos, and documentation. Detail your technology stack, scalability considerations, and roadmap for new features. Describe your approach to open-source community building: contributor guidelines, governance models, issue trackers, and plans for community engagement. Address cybersecurity, data privacy, and responsible AI principles. If your solution processes sensitive data involving children, outline safeguards such as differential privacy, encryption, and informed consent protocols.

Tips and tricks for a standout application

1. Tailor to UNICEF priorities. Align your solution with UNICEF’s strategic areas—education, child protection, health, climate resilience, WASH, and emergency response.
2. Highlight field validation. Share results from pilots, user testing sessions, or deployments with government agencies or NGOs.
3. Map to Sustainable Development Goals. Explicitly connect your impact metrics to SDGs and UNICEF programme outcomes.
4. Show inclusive design. Demonstrate how you incorporate accessibility features, gender considerations, and multilingual support.
5. Engage youth voices. Include testimonials or co-design processes involving young people.
6. Quantify scalability. Provide projections for users reached, cost per beneficiary, and expansion into new geographies.
7. Present a risk matrix. Identify operational, technical, and regulatory risks with mitigation plans.
8. Demonstrate team expertise. Highlight founders’ technical backgrounds, industry experience, and previous startups or research.
9. Plan for growth stage. Outline milestones that would qualify you for UNICEF’s Growth Portfolio or other investors.
10. Invest in storytelling. Use visuals and narratives to make complex technology understandable to evaluators.

Avoiding common pitfalls

Avoid submitting without a working prototype; concept-only ideas are rarely funded. Do not overlook open-source requirements—lack of clarity about licensing can disqualify applications. Ensure financial statements are accurate and audit-ready. Avoid jargon-heavy descriptions without explaining benefits for children. Make sure your safeguarding policies are robust; UNICEF scrutinizes ethics and child protection. Finally, do not ignore local regulatory environments—address compliance with aviation rules for drones, data protection laws, or edtech regulations.

Due diligence preparation

If shortlisted, prepare to share detailed financial records, cap tables, customer contracts, and intellectual property documentation. UNICEF will assess governance structures, board oversight, and data protection policies. Be ready to demonstrate code repositories, testing protocols, and product roadmaps. Arrange references from partners such as NGOs, government agencies, or accelerators who can attest to your impact and reliability. Ensure key team members are available for interviews covering technology, operations, and business strategy.

Post-investment support and expectations

Once selected, startups participate in a one-year investment period featuring remote sprints, mentorship, and peer learning. UNICEF provides access to experts in product design, data science, and growth strategy. You will co-create an investment agreement with milestones around product development, user growth, and open-source releases. Quarterly reviews assess progress, challenges, and learning. Startups must publish code, documentation, and case studies to foster ecosystem adoption. Successful teams may be invited to pilot projects with UNICEF country offices or partner agencies.

Leveraging the UNICEF network

Use the Venture Fund as a platform to secure follow-on funding and partnerships. Identify potential collaborations with UNICEF programmes—digital health initiatives, education technology pilots, cash transfer programs—and align your milestones accordingly. Participate in global events such as the World Economic Forum, GSMA Mobile World Congress, or UN General Assembly side events where UNICEF showcases portfolio companies. Develop marketing materials (impact reports, demo videos) to share with investors and donors. Engage in knowledge-sharing by contributing blog posts, webinars, or open-source documentation that elevates the broader ecosystem.

Self-assessment rubric

Create a rubric scoring problem clarity, impact potential, technology readiness, open-source commitment, business model strength, team capacity, and safeguarding compliance. Ask advisors with expertise in frontier tech, social impact, and finance to review your application. Address gaps before submission. Confirm that all uploads—pitch deck, financial statements, product demos—meet portal requirements. Test your application portal login and submission workflow ahead of time to avoid last-minute issues.

Final checklist

• Update corporate registration documents and verify eligibility.
• Publish or refresh open-source repositories with documentation and licenses.
• Finalize pitch deck emphasizing impact metrics and roadmap.
• Prepare financial statements and projections aligned with funding ask.
• Draft safeguarding and ethical AI policies for submission.
• Submit application before the deadline and confirm receipt via portal notifications.

The UNICEF Venture Fund accelerates founders who blend frontier technology with a commitment to children’s rights. By aligning open-source innovation with measurable social impact, your startup can unlock capital, mentorship, and global partnerships that transform communities.