UNICEF has up to $100,000 in equity-free funding with your name on it, as long as you apply by Nov. 4.
UNICEF Femtech Ventures is looking for its second annual cohort of companies building open-source solutions for the health, wellbeing, and sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and women with frontier technologies. The deadline to apply is Nov. 4, 2026. Selected companies can receive up to $100,000 to build out their solutions, FemTech World reports.
The program is a five-year initiative running from 2025 to 2030, backed by the Government of Sweden and Temasek Foundation, according to a UNICEF Office of Innovation press release. The funding is equity-free and comes with a year of tailored technical assistance. The release says UNICEF built the model to lower the risk for future investors and steer early money toward locally built innovation.
- A private company registered in a UNICEF programme country; a functional prototype, with promising results from initial pilots; a commitment to open-source licensing and principles; and Potential to scale.
FemTech World says the call targets companies that already have a functional prototype, not individuals pitching an undeveloped idea. Open-source solutions using frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain are of particular interest, and women-led startups and founders under 35 are particularly encouraged to apply.
UNICEF says 11 startups from Africa and Asia were chosen from more than 1,100 applications from 85 countries, applying AI, data science and blockchain to maternal and reproductive care, safe mobility, gender-based violence response and financial inclusion. Among them, according to Femtech Insider, are a WhatsApp chatbot delivering maternal health guidance in local languages and a tool that uses AI to detect online abuse and connect users to support networks.
Applications close Nov. 4, 2026.