Deadline: 30 Aug 2021
About the Agritech Challenge 2021
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 cross-border exchange of innovations, insights and investments.
The first initiative of the Platform is the Agritech Challenge (‘Programme’), with a focus on improving financial health of smallholder farmers. The Programme 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.
Call for Participation
Applications are invited from participants that meet the following eligibility criteria:
Registered Entity: A Start-up registered in any of the participating countries with at least 2 years of operations.
Revenue: at least:
- USD 150,000 average annual revenue in the last 2 years or
- USD 100,000 average annual revenue in the last 3 years.
Solution: Live solution with an active customer and/or user base, and not in development/testing phase,
Active customer/user defined as having transacted with the solution at least once in the last 90 days.
The applicant must address at least one of the following three identified challenge areas in their chosen international market.
Low productivity: Access to new technology and innovations.
Climate risk: resilience climate change and natural hazards.
Inefficient supply chains: reduce wastage and build transparent pricing.
Participation Benefits
Why Apply?
Market Access: Linkages with industry/market partners and local innovators to help co-create & pilot solution in the chosen market.
Expansion Guidance: Guidance from innovation hubs and experts on solution framework and regulatory & compliance landscape.
Sector Insights: Mentoring and support from a network of country and ecosystem partners around sector insights and local market linkages.
Investor Showcase: Opportunity to connect & showcase business to an investor network and raise capital to support the scale up.
Continued Support:
- Post-program support to scale up the solution
- Opportunity to be considered for a financial grant.
Participating Countries
- Africa: Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia
- Asia: India, Indonesia, Malaysia
Evaluation Criteria
All eligible applicants will be evaluated against the following criteria:
Degree of Innovation: Solution innovation & differentiation and relevance in addressing marketing gaps.
Sustainability and Commercial Viability: Commercial scalability potential P&L and international market readiness.
Social Impact and UN SDGs: Impact on lives of smallholder farmers & climate, and alignment with SDGs.
Organizational Capacity and Implementation: Organizational infra, team and expertise to manage and sustain international expansion.
The Program Journey
- Application Opens: 22 July to 30 Aug 2021
- Evaluation and Cohort Unveiling (20 participants): Sep 2021
- Structured Expansion Support: Oct 2021 to Jan 2022
- Solution Showcase: Feb 2022
For more information, please visit: https://www.uncdf.org/finlab/agritechchallenge
