The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) has invested in five startups including Innovations for Poverty Alleviation Lab, located at Pakistan’s Information Technology University, and aims to back up to 40 more in 2017.
Unicef, which works in 190 countries and territories to advance the rights and development of children, launched its $11m Innovation Fund in February this year.
The venture capital fund provides seed investment of up to $100,000 and invests in entrepreneurs and companies developing open source technology that benefits vulnerable children.
The fund’s portfolio includes five startups:
- Innovations for Poverty Alleviation Lab (Pakistan): The Lab, which is housed at Pakistan’s Information Technology University, creates interactive materials that can be played over a mobile phone to inform users who may be semi-literate about childbirth preparation and maternal healthcare.
- SayCel (Nicaragua): An affordable mobile connectivity provider, SayCel will use the funding to expand access to its low-cost, open source Global System for Mobile telephony system, which is used to run cellular networks in rural areas.
- mPower Social Enterprises (Bangladesh): A digital registry developer working to improve data collection and delivery of maternal and child healthcare, MPower will use the proceeds to increase testing of a digital registry platform that runs on tablets, to help mobile health workers track vaccination rates among children.
- 9Needs (South Africa): A startup that uses blockchain technology to enable early childhood development (ECD) programs to digitally record child beneficiaries and providers as well as service attendance, 9Needs will use the financing to carry out a field test and add more features to its technology.
- Chatterbox Dating Mobile (Cambodia):Chatterbox is building tools to enable users to access mobile services in communities where literacy rates are low.
Open source startups seeking Innovation Fund investment must apply by January 1, 2017.
Cynthia McCaffrey, director of the Unicef Office of Innovation, said: “Using Unicef’s 190 offices and 12,000 staff, the fund will help us source and support companies that might be overlooked by traditional investment vehicles.
“The fund allows us to prototype technology solutions, as well as expand our networks of open source collaborators to improve children’s lives.”
Unicef Innovation is an interdisciplinary, global team tasked with identifying, prototyping and scaling technologies and practices that strengthen Unicef’s work.
– A version of this article originally appeared on our sister site, Global Government Venturing.
