New fund targets Early Stage AI Tech Start-ups in Africa

The Swedish AI Fund (SAIF) is an NGO with the purpose of providing financial aid, grants, and scholarships globally to those who are working, researching, and/or involved in the AI industry towards equality, safety, and security in the field of AI.

To achieve this end, several public and private actors are collaborating in SAIF.  In 2022, SAIF is funding 100 million Swedish Krona (approx. Euro 10 million) globally.  SAIF is expanding fast to reach more countries. Currently, SAIF is active in 8 countries: Israel, Sweden, Albania, the UK, South Africa, Germany, Georgia, and North Macedonia.  The AI Media Group is the primary launch partner for SAIF in Africa along with launch partners; AWS, Nvidia, Telkom, Embassy of Switzerland SA, Zindi, Cirrus AI and AiCE Kenya. We now invite candidate African AI companies to apply using the application process below.

Background

The SAIF is one of the projects launched by the AICenter Sweden a collaboration between several legal entities and experts towards a common goal: Equality, safety, and security in the AI industry.  The AICenter started in Sweden and it works internationally.  We have different types of partnerships globally.  In Sweden, we are cooperating with universities, leading companies and experts from United Nations (UN) and The European AI Alliance.  Our international partnership is with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in different countries, and several recognisable organisations and associations in different parts of the globe. Learn more here 

Forms of Fund

This fund is available in different forms in limited amounts for specific purposes (typically Euro 10k – Euro 15k) awarded as non-equity micro-seed grants by the SAIF network partners.  Each year, the board of trustees at the Swedish AI Fund decides the amount and how to make this fund available to a specific group of organisations, institutions, and universities.  The initial fund being distributed in this Africa call is Euro 96,000.

Eligibility: Who can get funding & how do you apply ?  

To be eligible to receive funds from SAIF you need to apply through SAIF’s official partners and for the initial Africa funding call this is via The AI Media Group.  We are seeking to fund companies based in Africa primarily at pre-seed stage who have developed solutions and services that leverage AI.

You apply >> HERE  << and the deadline for submissions closes 31st April 2022.