The GSMA Innovation Fund for Digital Urban Services supports innovations to build urban resilience through delivering essential urban services to the underserved in low- and middle-income countries across Africa and Asia.

The Fund will provide grants and additional support to small and growing enterprises that leverage digital technology, especially mobile, to deliver services with socio-economic and environmental/climate impact in one of the following verticals:

1. Energy
2. Water
3. Sanitation
4. Plastics and Waste Management

Successful projects for The GSMA Innovation Fund for Digital Urban Services will receive an equity-free grant of between £100,000 and £250,000 to scale their innovation over a 15- to 18-month period. To find out if you’re eligible to apply for the Fund, please read the Terms and Conditions and FAQs.

The objective the Fund is to extract insights from business models to inform the improvement of essential urban services delivery across energy, water, sanitation, plastics and waste management.

Grants will be utilized to test digital innovations, enable scale, and provide essential services to underserved populations across all four sectors. The grant projects must seek to demonstrate:

  • How innovative digital technology, including mobile, can support delivery of urban services to underserved populations;
  • What business models and partnerships are required for innovative digital solutions to be adopted at scale;
  • What are the social, commercial and environmental/ climate impacts delivering urban services to underserved populations; and
  • What role mobile operators and other technology companies can play in these business models, and how they can make their role commercially sustainable.

This initiative has been funded by UK aid from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), and is supported by the GSMA and its members.

The deadline for submitting pitches is 23:59 UTC+1 (UK time) 2nd July 2021.

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