Expression of Interest: UNCDF Agritech Challenge 2021 And How To Apply
The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog (Govt. of India); Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Rabo Foundation; International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); and Bayer, is launching an innovation platform to enable the cross-border exchange of innovations, insights, and investments.
The first initiative of the Platform is the Agritech Challenge, with a focus on improving the financial health of smallholder farmers. The Program will support agritech and agri-fintech startups to expand to international markets, across Kenya, Malawi, Uganda & Zambia in Africa, and Malaysia, India & Indonesia in Asia.
The selected participants will get access to industry, investor & market linkages, along with mentorship from sector experts to help them build and test their solution in their chosen international market, with subsequent support on scaling the solution as well.
Benefits
- Post-program support to scale up the solution.
- Opportunity to be considered for a financial grant.
Eligibility
- A startup registered in any of the participating countries, wit at least 2 years operations;
- At least $150,000 average annual revenue in the last 2 years; or $100,000 avaerage annual revenue in the last 3 years;
- Live solution with an active customer and/or user base, and not in development/testing phase;
- The applicant must address at least one of the following three identified challenge areas in their chosen international market.
Participating Countries
- Africa: Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia
- Asia: India, Indonesia, Malaysia
Evaluation Criteria
All eligible applicants will be evaluated against the following criteria:
- Solution innovation and differentiation and relevance in addressing market gaps.
- Commercial scalability potential, P&L and internatinal market readiness.
- Impact on lives of smallholder farmers and climate, and alignment with SDGs.
- Organisational infra, team and expertise to manage and sustain international expansion.
How To Apply
The applicant must submit a complete application form online before 30 August 2021 (23:59 (EDT).
For more information, visit UNCDF
Application Deadline: August 31, 2021
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