Deadline: 4 November 2026. UNICEF Femtech Ventures is accepting applications for its 2026 cohort, offering selected startups up to US$100,000 in equity-free funding plus 12 months of technical mentorship and access to UNICEF's global network. The call is open to companies building open-source, frontier-technology solutions for the health, wellbeing, safety and sexual and reproductive health of girls and women.
Unlike a conventional venture round, this money does not cost equity. The trade-off is different: applicants must commit to open-source development, show a working prototype, and design for safety, privacy and informed consent from the start. The funding announcement does not specify a closing time or time zone for 4 November 2026, so founders should submit well before the day ends.
What the programme funds
UNICEF Femtech Ventures is a five-year initiative running from 2025 to 2030 that supports locally developed technology for girls and women in emerging markets. This is its second cohort: the first comprised 11 companies from eight countries across Africa and Asia. Selected companies also get support engaging with governments and institutional partners and building a pathway to scale. Note that “up to US$100,000” is a maximum, not a promise — not every selected company will necessarily receive the full amount.
Applications fall under three pillars. The first covers healthcare access for women and girls, from affordable screening tools to maternal-health platforms. The second covers informed, safe and accessible reproductive health, including AI-powered information platforms and tools in underserved languages. The third covers mental wellbeing, safety and protection, including digital mental-health tools and systems that detect and respond to gender-based violence.
Eligibility
To be eligible, a company must be legally registered in a UNICEF programme country and be developing a locally grounded solution that uses frontier technology such as artificial intelligence, generative or agentic AI, machine learning, blockchain or data science. The solution must already have a functional prototype — this call is not for idea-stage founders — and it should be able to work in low-resource or low-bandwidth settings. Applicants must be willing to comply with open-source licensing and to address data protection, safeguarding and user safety. Women-led companies and founders under 35 are strongly encouraged to apply, though that is an encouragement, not a mandatory requirement.
How to apply for UNICEF Femtech Ventures
Eligible companies apply through the online application form linked from the official call. Before submitting, founders should confirm that their country, company, prototype and open-source commitments satisfy the programme requirements, and review UNICEF's open-source approach and the Venture Fund application process. Indian founders should check the programme-country list linked from the official call before applying, and prepare material describing the company, the prototype, the technology, the intended users and the expected social impact.
Why it matters for founders
Equity-free capital with a global institutional network is rare, and it suits health-tech founders whose product needs trust and distribution more than a fast consumer launch. If you already have a working prototype in women's health, the 4 November deadline is worth a serious application — but only if you can genuinely meet the open-source and safeguarding bars, which are core to this call, not paperwork.