About UNICEF Innovation Fund
UNICEF Innovation Fund is a venture capital firm founded in 2016. It is primarily based out of New York City, United States. As of Jun 2021, UNICEF Innovation Fund has invested in 72 companies. It primarily invests in Grant (prize money) round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from High Tech to Enterprise Applications and EdTech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Esatya Overall, UNICEF Innovation Fund portfolio has seen 7 acquisitions including key companies like Leaf Global Fintech, Giraffe and RayV. UNICEF Innovation Fund has team of 9 people including 2 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Grant (prize money) & Seed
Portfolio Acquisitions
UNICEF Innovation Fund's List of Top Investments
UNICEF Innovation Fund has a portfolio of 72 companies. Their most notable investments are in Rentadrone.cl and U-Report Guatemala.Their portfolio spans across India, United States, Argentina and 23 more locations. They have invested in High Tech, Enterprise Applications, EdTech and 23 other sectors, across stages such as Grant (prize money), Seed stages. Here is the list of top investments by UNICEF Innovation Fund:1. NCBI
Provider of biomedical and genomic information access. It advances science and health by providing access to a vast collection of biomedical and genomic data. This includes databases covering various areas such as genes, proteins, chemicals, and literature. Users can search these databases, download data, and utilize provided tools for analysis. The organization also offers educational resources and APIs for application development.
Key facts about NCBI
- Founded Year: 1988
- Location: Bethesda (United States)
- Stage: Funding Raised
- Investors: HHS, Europa and 1 Other
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Oct 14, 2020, $*****
2. Kotani Pay
AI-backed payroll management platform for gig workers. It is a technology stack that enables blockchain protocols, dapps, and blockchain fintech companies to integrate seamlessly into local payment channels. It helps provide payments to annotators and other artificial Intelligence workers.
Key facts about Kotani Pay
- Founded Year: 2021
- Location: Nairobi (Kenya)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $2M
- Investors: Tether, Luno Expeditions and 10 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Oct 21, 2025, $*****
Provider of virtual banking services for secure money storage and transfer. The company offers an application that allows users to store funds virtually and withdraw them when needed. The application facilitates sending and receiving money across borders, working with mobile money providers. It also allows users to exchange money in offered currencies.
Key facts about Leaf Global Fintech
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: Nashville (United States)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $145K
- Employee Count: 15 as on Jul 01, 2024
- Investors: Techstars, Western Union and 5 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), May 22, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
4. Cloudline
Operator of a platform providing cloud computing and data storage. It offers solutions for managing and processing information. The platform provides tools for data analysis and application development. It facilitates secure data management and scalable computing resources.
Key facts about Cloudline
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: Cape Town (South Africa)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $6M
- Employee Count: 14 as on Jul 01, 2024
- Investors: 4Di Capital, Launch Africa and 9 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Dec 21, 2023, $*****
5. Giraffe
Giraffe is a medium skilled job board that helps employers find staff quickly (within 48 hours). Employers put their requirement, the platform intelligently matches for staff and shows up to 7 matches, interviews can then be scheduled. Employees pay for successful placements and pricing starts at 15% of monthly salary of worker. Won Seedstars world grand prize in 2016. Giraffe has attracted over 90,000 job-seekers primarily for permanent jobs in retail, call centre, transportation, and administrative services as of April 2016.
Key facts about Giraffe
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Johannesburg (South Africa)
- Stage: Acquired
- Employee Count: 24 as on Jul 01, 2024
- Investors: Omidyar Network, Vumela and 4 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Jul 20, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
UNICEF Innovation Fund's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
UNICEF Innovation Fund has invested in 72 companies over the last 10 years, with an average of 4 new investments annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Esatya and most recent follow-on round was in Pixframe Studios.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2020 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2018 | 16 | 0 | 16 |
2017 | 9 | 0 | 9 |
UNICEF Innovation Fund's Investments by Stage
UNICEF Innovation Fund has made 34 investments in Grant (prize money) stage with an average round size of $93.4K and 3 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $95.5K.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Grant (prize money) | 34 |
Seed | 3 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
UNICEF Innovation Fund's Investments by Sector
UNICEF Innovation Fund has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Business Services, Enterprise Applications, High Tech, EdTech and Blockchain Technology. Notably, it has invested in 39 Tech companies, 32 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 27 Software companies and at least 24 companies focusing on Consumer (B2C).Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Business Services | 8 |
Enterprise Applications | 8 |
High Tech | 7 |
EdTech | 6 |
Blockchain Technology | 5 |
Others | 30 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
UNICEF Innovation Fund's Investments by Geography
UNICEF Innovation Fund has made most investments in India (4), followed by Kenya where it has made 4 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
India | 4 |
Kenya | 4 |
Argentina | 3 |
South Africa | 3 |
United States | 3 |
Others | 19 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
UNICEF Innovation Fund's recent investments
UNICEF Innovation Fund has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by UNICEF Innovation Fund:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 11, 2021 | Nepal | Seed | 2993 | - | |
Jun 08, 2021 | Kenya | Grant (prize money) | 8112 | - | |
Jun 08, 2021 | Argentina | Grant (prize money) | 3886 | - | |
Jul 20, 2020 | South Africa | Grant (prize money) | 1317 | - | |
Jul 20, 2020 | Kenya | Grant (prize money) | 5760 | - |
Acquired companies in UNICEF Innovation Fund's Portfolio
7 companies from UNICEF Innovation Fund's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition were Dymaxion Labs in Dec 2022 by GDM Group.Here are UNICEF Innovation Fund's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec 08, 2022 | Apr 05, 2018 | Grant (prize money) | 4809 | |
May 27, 2022 | - | - | 7642 | |
Mar 14, 2022 | - | - | 4860 | |
Oct 05, 2021 | - | - | 5647 | |
Jun 25, 2021 | Jul 20, 2020 | Grant (prize money) | 9270 |
Team profile of UNICEF Innovation Fund
UNICEF Innovation Fund has a team of 9 members including 2 Partners and 4 Principals located in United States, Sweden and 2 more locations. UNICEF Innovation Fund's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in UNICEF Innovation Fund:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Switzerland | - | - | |
Partner | Stockholm | - | - | |
Principal | Washington, DC | - | - | |
Principal | Sao Paulo | - | - | |
Principal | Washington, DC | - | - | |
Principal | Sweden | - | - |
Co-investors of UNICEF Innovation Fund
Over the past 10 years, 28 investors have co-invested in UNICEF Innovation Fund's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before UNICEF Innovation Fund: Seedstars World, Edge Growth and 11 others have invested in rounds before UNICEF Innovation Fund. There is 1 company where Seedstars World has invested before UNICEF Innovation Fund and 1 company where Edge Growth has invested before UNICEF Innovation Fund.
- Invested after UNICEF Innovation Fund: A total of 15 investors have invested in UNICEF Innovation Fund's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include P1 Ventures (1 company), Luno (1 company) and Flori Ventures (1 company).
Recent News related to UNICEF Innovation Fund
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UNICEF Innovation Fund Invests $100k Into Tunisia’s Startup UtopixaInnovation-village•Dec 25, 2018•Utopixa, UNICEF Innovation Fund
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UNICEF Innovation Fund invests $100k into Tunisia’s UtopixarTechMoran•Dec 13, 2018•Utopixar, UNICEF Innovation Fund
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UNICEF offering $90k for VR, AR startups impacting childrenDisrupt Africa•Aug 24, 2017•UNICEF Innovation Fund
