Investing in Innovation (i3) Africa Program 2025 (up to $225K)

Investing in Innovation (i3) is a pan-African commercialization support program that aims to help scale 5-fifteen (15) African healthtech startups who are working to advance healthcare access and delivery in Africa.

Sponsored by the Gates Foundation, MSD, Cencora, Chemonics, Endless Foundation, HELP Logistics, and Sanofi, i3’s third cohort will provide 5-7 startups with up to $225K in risk-tolerant funding and connect them to leading healthcare organizations (donors, industry, global health institutions and governments) to scale their impact and produce measurable advances in access.

Benefits of Investing in Innovation

• Access to Markets: i3 connects healthtech start-ups with large healthcare organizations including governments, donors, and global health institutions to drive adoption of start-ups’ offerings and scale.
• Risk-Tolerant Finance: i3’s third cohort will provide grant funding of up to $225K for growth-stage innovators, to overcome barriers to partnerships with large healthcare organizations e.g. WHO pre-qualification and regulatory compliance.
• Partnership Readiness Support: i3 provides a roadmap to help innovators meet the requirements for partnering with major healthcare organizations.
• Bespoke Deal Facilitation: i3 helps innovators refine their strategic positioning and increase the likelihood of successful partnerships and deals with large healthcare organizations.
• Communications and Advocacy: i3 provides highly professionalized communications and advocacy, to amplify the work of African healthtech innovators in the global health landscape. Additionally, i3 works towards resolving key ecosystem barriers that impact healthtech innovation in Africa.

Check : Mastercard Foundation & University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund 2025 (up to £50,000)

Eligibility for Investing in Innovation

i3 applicants must be:

• Early-stage and Growth-stage tech-enabled businesses owned or operated by African Nationals, and with a legal presence on the continent.
• Start-ups focused on advancing healthcare access and delivery through tech- and data-enabled solutions. Start-ups must provide evidence of product-market fit, diversified revenues and demonstrable potential for growth.
• Demonstrable potential for social and societal impact.

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