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Applications are now open for the GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI. The GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI will provide grants and venture building support to small and growing enterprises that leverage AI and other emerging technologies, in conjunction with mobile technology, to have a positive impact on the lives of people in LMICs.
Opportunity Details
The fund is interested in solutions that demonstrate the transformative impact of innovative AI and supporting emerging technologies to tackle socio-economic and climate-related challenges.
The Fund has four objectives:
1. To de-risk innovation by testing innovative use cases, partnerships and business models that target low-income and vulnerable communities in selected geographies
2. To improve the sustainability and scalability of these digitally enabled solutions
3. To learn about the key enablers, risks and challenges of AI adoption for such solutions
4. To increase awareness of the role and potential of AI in LMICs and influence the development of enabling environments for AI based socio-economic and climate impact driven innovations
Fund Focus
The Fund is sector-agnostic, but priority will be given to applications that focus on one or more of the following:
The Fund support package includes:
Grant funding: The amount requested can be any amount between GBP 100,000 and GBP 250,000 for a grant that lasts between 15 and 18 months. Applicants are expected to justify the submitted budget amount.
• The grant awarded cannot contain any profit element and will be made on a cost-only basis.
• The Fund will not allow any indirect costs as part of the grant. In addition, a maximum of 10% grant funds can be allocated to direct overhead costs.
• The Fund will closely oversee the monetary usage of the grant and only disburse funding based on the achievement of milestones and satisfactory grant spending. Milestone-based payments will be dependent on the grantee providing proof that mutually agreed milestones/targets have been completed/achieved.
• Grantees should be prepared at times to receive reimbursement in arrears of spend occurring, especially the final milestone payment (20%), Facilitation of partnerships with MNOs (where relevant and possible). — Tailored technical assistance and venture building support to build the grantee's capacity.
To be eligible to apply to the Fund, applicants must meet all of the following criteria:
3.1 Leverage digital technology, especially mobile, to deliver solutions
— Be able to demonstrate how AI and other emerging technologies (e.g. mobile big data, IoT, remote sensing, computer vision, blockchain, drones), in conjunction with mobile technology, will be leveraged to deliver the solution described in section 2.
3.2 Entity type
— Be a for-profit private sector small and growing enterprise in a low- or middle-income country.
— Have active users and commercial revenue (users and revenue from any products or services) in at
least one eligible country (see section 3.3 Geography).
— Be an existing entity registered and operating in the country of project implementation at the time
of application (whether domestic or foreign-owned or a joint venture). In cases where responsibility for service delivery lies with a downstream partner (see section 4) rather than with the applicant (e.g. service delivery by a local government), it may be acceptable for the applicant to be registered in a country other than that of project implementation (see geographic restrictions in section 3.3).
Please note that only one organisation can apply for funding and become a grantee. It must be the organisation that is in charge of delivering most of the outputs of the proposed project.
3.3 Geography
— Propose a project that is implemented in a country/countries that is/are eligible to receive official development assistance [as per the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) classification] in the following regions: Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The list of eligible countries in these regions, and details on additional due diligence checks in certain countries, can be found in the FAQs.
Please note that as a 501(c)(3) organisation, the GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation Inc. is obliged to comply with the sanctions, laws and regulations of the United States and other sanctions regimes as may be applicable. These sanctions and laws and other legal or regulatory regimes may restrict the GSMA from distributing grant funding to certain entities or regions as indicated in the FAQs.
3.4 Current market presence
Have an existing entity registered and operating in the country (or countries) of project implementation.
Please see the FAQs for additional eligibility information.
3.5 Ability to receive grant funds
— Have a bank account capable of receiving GBP payments, as all disbursements from the GSMA will be made in GBP. As a general rule, the applicant should be registered in and maintain a bank account in the country where the project will be implemented. On an exceptional basis, subject to the GSMA’s assessment of the particular case, the GSMA could send funds to the GBP account of a parent company registered in a country other than the project implementation country.
3.6 Matching contribution
The Fund requires a matching contribution from the applicant to demonstrate interest and trust from the wider investor community. Acceptance of match funding is subject to approval by the Fund.
— Applicants must provide a matching contribution of at least 25% of the requested grant amount. For instance, if an applicant is requesting £200,000 from the Fund, a contribution of at least £50,000 from other sources is required.
— The matching contribution must be secured and evidenced as such by the time final proposals are submitted and must then be used towards the proposed project and spent in full across the 15- to 18-month project cycle.
— The matching contribution can be made in cash and/or in-kind. In-kind funding cannot be used to fully satisfy the matching contribution.
— The matching contribution cannot be from existing funding from UK International Development from the UK government.
More information about the type of eligible matching contributions can be found in the FAQs.
3.7 Financial and audit compliance
— Be able to demonstrate adequate financial systems for regular financial reporting to the GSMA and provide unqualified audited financial statements/accounts prior to contracting.
If shortlisted to proceed to due diligence, applicants will need to comply with an additional series of checks. More information can be found in the FAQs.
3.8 Legal compliance
— Be fully compliant with relevant business licensing, taxation, employee and other regulations in all applicable countries of grant project operation.
The Fund will not support:
— The following types of organisations, which are not eligible to apply to the Fund:
However, eligible applicants are encouraged to have partnerships with such organisations when it strengthens the value proposition of their application.
— Projects that focus solely on products and solutions for high-end devices (including IOS) not associated with low-income users.
— Projects solely with a research focus.
— The development or prototyping of any new hardware solutions. Where there is a proposal to use existing hardware solutions (e.g. mobile big data, IoT, remote sensing, computer vision, blockchain, drones) as part of the project, applicants must be able to clearly demonstrate that all required approvals for wide-scale importation and use of the hardware exist prior to grant execution. In instances where there is assembly of completed pre-existing and previously used hardware components, this may be considered on a case-by-case basis by the GSMA. Applicants may be required to respond to additional GSMA due diligence requests, including disclosing relevant supply chains.
— Non commercially sustainable distribution of assets directly to target populations, including the purchase and distribution of mobile phones, tablets or other communication devices to target populations/end users.
— The deployment of solutions, partnerships or models that are already proven and do not apply an innovative approach. Innovative adaptation of existing solutions will be considered, however.
To submit an application, first register on their grant management platform. Please complete and submit the eligibility form. Please ensure registration and eligibility forms are completed by 12 March 2025. If eligible, you will receive a notification to access the application questionnaire – please allow up to 48 hours. Please submit your application questionnaire by the closing date to be considered. Ineligible applicants will not be able to complete the application questionnaire.
For more information, see FAQs and the Terms and Conditions.
Apply for GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI