LAVCA VC
  • News Feed
  • VC Data
  • Directories
  • Features
  • Tech Growth Coalition
  • LAVCA Gender Diversity
  • Engage
    • VC Council
    • VC Members
  • LAVCA
  • Member Login
  • Member Access

LAVCA VC

  • News Feed
  • VC Data
  • Directories
  • Features
  • Tech Growth Coalition
  • LAVCA Gender Diversity
  • Engage
    • VC Council
    • VC Members
  • LAVCA

UNICEF Makes Venture Capital Investments in Emerging Market Tech Startups

15 November 2016
unicef LAVCA Venture Investors

(UNICEF) UNICEF has invested in Nicaragua’s Saycel, which provides affordable mobile connectivity to communities in rural areas.

UNICEF today announces its first portfolio of investments in open source technology solutions including tools that improve connectivity, real time data collection, identity technology and learning.

The UNICEF Innovation Fund applies a venture capital approach to source solutions for issues like transportation, identity, wearable technology, finance, and personal data. In addition to announcing first investments UNICEF has also opened the next round of applications from technology start-ups.

“The UNICEF Innovation Fund is a new way of doing business at the UN; combining the approach of Silicon Valley venture funds with the needs of UNICEF programme countries,” said Cynthia McCaffrey, Director of the UNICEF Office of Innovation.

“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,” McCaffrey added. “The Fund allows us to prototype technology solutions, as well as expand our networks of open source collaborators to improve children’s lives.”

The first portfolio of investments includes the following five start-ups, with an eye to investing in 20-40 additional companies in 2017:

• Saycel (Nicaragua): provides affordable mobile connectivity to communities that are not on the traditional information grid in rural areas.

• mPower (Bangladesh): create a digital registry platform to improve data collection and delivery of maternal and child health care.

• 9Needs (South Africa): uses blockchain and advances in identity technology to create better management systems for early childhood development services.

• Innovations for Poverty Alleviation Lab (Pakistan): creates stories and information that can be played over a simple mobile phone to help fathers (who may be semi-literate) support their families for better maternal and newborn health.

• Chatterbox (Cambodia): provides a fundamental technology layer to be integrated into UNICEF’s RapidPro platform to extend its reach to communities that are low literacy, particularly in Cambodia, but eventually globally.

The UNICEF Innovation Fund is inviting technology start-ups to apply for investment and become part of this growing portfolio of open source solutions. The next round of applications for investment from the Fund is now open. Information about who can apply and how to submit Expressions of Interest is available at www.unicefinnovationfund.org. The deadline to apply is 1 January 2017.

 

UNICEF Makes Venture Capital Investments in Emerging Market Tech Startups was last modified: May 18th, 2017 by Editor
NicaraguaSaycelTelecommunicationsUNICEFVenture Capital
0
Facebook Twitter Google +

Categories

  • Deals
  • Exits
  • Regulatory
  • M&A
  • New Funds & Firms
  • Partnerships

Sign up for LAVCA’s bi-weekly Latin American Private Capital Update and the LatAm Venture Bulletin, produced specifically for venture investors, entrepreneurs, and technology startups in the early stage ecosystem.






Which LAVCA Newsletter would you like to receive?

Tweets

  • Congratulations to all the winners of the 9th annual LAVCA ESG Deal Awards! Learn more about the winners here:… https://t.co/VSLSO2QDkU

    25-May-2023

    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • Join us at 10 am ET for LAVCA's 9th annual ESG Deal Awards! Join here: https://t.co/idTeK2S6lK #investors #LatAm… https://t.co/bbCEAOfjtd

    25-May-2023

    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • Nicolas Szekasy and Francisco Alvarez-Demalde of LAVCA Member firms @KaszekVentures & Riverwood Capital shared thei… https://t.co/GtxubjgCYD

    22-May-2023

    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • The 9th Annual LAVCA ESG Deal Awards will take place next Thursday, 25 May 2023 at 10 am ET on LinkedIn. LAVCA Mem… https://t.co/NpRQSoZgkJ

    18-May-2023

    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • Join us for "Increasing Participation of Women in Private Capital", the next module in the Inside Private Capital e… https://t.co/eQm8BFtlFg

    16-May-2023

    Reply Retweet Favorite

Keep in touch

Twitter Linkedin Youtube

About LAVCA

 

LAVCA is the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America, a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to supporting the growth of private capital in Latin America and the Caribbean through research, education, networking and advocacy.

LAVCA Office

    New York City:
    589 8th Ave, 18th Floor
    New York, NY 10018

Explore LAVCA.org

  • About LAVCA
  • Board, Team, & Advisors
  • Media
  • Contact Us
  • Membership Benefits
  • Members Only Access
  • Education and Programs
  • Research
  • Policy
  • LAVCA VC
  • Contact Us

@2020 - LAVCA. All Rights Reserved.


Back To Top