Find funding faster for your business

The 100x Impact Accelerator based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) through the Marshall Institute, is one of the world's most prominent non-dilutive acceleration engines for "social unicorns"—ventures capable of scaling positive systemic change to reach hundreds of millions, or billions, of lives. Capital Package & Equity Model Direct Capital Injection: £150,000 GBP in non-dilutive catalytic grant funding per selected venture. Equity Terms: 0% Equity / 100% Non-Dilutive (0% equity taken; no repayment, warrants, or success fees). Follow-on Capital Pathway: Priority consideration for follow-on catalytic capital, alongside direct access to 100x’s global network of impact investors, family offices, and institutional donors. Academic & Research Rigour: Tailored scaling advisory drawing on LSE research expertise, impact measurement methodology, and systems-change frameworks. The 8 Core Impact Areas Applicants must target measurable, systems-level transformation in one of eight priority verticals: Climate and Environment: Decarbonization, resource efficiency, regenerative agriculture, and clean energy. Health and Social Care: Accessible diagnostics, community care infrastructure, and population health. Education: Scalable tools reducing educational disparities and expanding access to high-quality learning. Equitable Economies: Inclusive financial services, decentralized economic tools, and fair-wage empowerment. Happiness and Wellbeing: Scalable mental health delivery, community cohesion, and emotional wellness platforms. Refugees and Cohesion: Integration, legal access, and livelihood creation for displaced communities. Democracy: Civic engagement tools, governmental transparency, and democratic participation. New Frontiers: Breakthrough technologies (AI, frontier tech, novel computing) tackling core human challenges. Eligibility Criteria To qualify, applicant organizations must meet all core requirements: Organizational Structure: Open to both for-profit and non-profit / hybrid entities , provided the venture is strictly impact-first . Proven Solution: Beyond pure ideation—must have a validated product or intervention with tangible evidence of real-world outcomes and user adoption . Pathways to Scale: Clear, credible strategy to achieve massive endgame scale (via market adoption, government integration, open-source replication, or policy reform). Geographic Coverage: Global . (Note: ~70% of the portfolio is targeted toward emerging markets, but UK, European, and international founders are fully eligible) .

The Simply Business Second Act Entrepreneur Fund , delivered in partnership with social enterprise Hatch Enterprise , is a UK non-dilutive grant competition awarding direct funding and executive coaching to founders starting or scaling businesses over the age of 40. Judge Levi Roots (founder of Reggae Reggae Sauce) leads the panel evaluating high-growth, viable business models across the UK. Capital Package & Grant Terms Direct Cash Grant Pool: £50,000 GBP total pool (£10,000 GBP equity-free cash grant per winner; 5 winners selected). Equity Terms: 0% Equity / 100% Non-Dilutive (0% equity taken; no repayment, warrants, or tuition fees). Mandatory Coaching & Incubation: 1-on-1 personalized executive coaching program from Hatch Enterprise running virtually and in-person from December 2026 to April 2027. (Grant funds are transferred upon completion of the coaching module) . Hatch Alumni Network: Access to ongoing founder events, peer mentoring, and investor networks. Eligibility Criteria To qualify, applicants must satisfy all core criteria: Age Requirement: Open strictly to UK residents aged 40 or over at the time of entry (no upper age limit). Geographic Focus: Must be legally based and operating in the United Kingdom . Stage: Open to both pre-launch business ideas and trading businesses seeking expansion capital. Judging Evaluation Criteria: Viability & Business Model: Clear revenue model covering operating expenses. Proven Market Demand: Evidence of target market demand, customer traction, or gap analysis. Growth Ambitions: Scalability plans for the £10k allocation. Written Pitch Format: Concise narrative (100–200 words); no fully AI-generated entries permitted .

The UNICEF Femtech Ventures Call for Applications delivered by the UNICEF Office of Innovation through the UNICEF Venture Fund , provides equity-free capital and technical mentorship to early-stage technology startups leveraging frontier tech (AI, machine learning, blockchain, data science) to address critical health, safety, and reproductive rights challenges for women and girls in emerging markets. Capital Package & Grant Terms Direct Capital Injection: Up to $100,000 USD in equity-free venture funding (disbursed in fiat or cryptocurrency, e.g., ETH/BTC). Equity Terms: 0% Equity / 100% Non-Dilutive (0% equity taken; no repayment, warrants, or tuition fees). Technical Mentorship & Scaling: 12 months of 1-on-1 technical and business growth mentorship, regulatory support, and direct access to UNICEF's global network, health ministries, and country offices. The 3 Core Program Pillars Submissions must utilize frontier tech to address at least one of the following priority areas: Pillar 1: Healthcare Access for Women & Girls: Point-of-care diagnostics, automated screening tools (e.g., anemia, thyroid, health monitoring), maternal/child health management, and supply chain planning. Pillar 2: Informed, Safe & Accessible Reproductive Health: Digital platforms providing confidential, localized sexual/reproductive health information, digital decision-support systems, and privacy-preserving data tools. Pillar 3: Mental Wellbeing, Safety & Protection: Digital mental health interventions, AI detection/response for gender-based violence (GBV), online safety/anti-harassment detection, and trauma support tools. Eligibility Criteria To qualify, applicant companies must strictly meet all mandatory requirements: Country Registration: Must be registered as a private for-profit entity in a UNICEF Programme Country (spanning regions across Africa, Asia-Pacific, MENA, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia). Open-Source Mandate: Must be committed to open-source licensing for all software, hardware, or content developed under the grant (e.g., GNU GPL, MIT, BSD, or CC-BY licenses). Product Maturity: Must have a functional working prototype with early pilot data or field-testing evidence (pure concept/idea-stage projects are ineligible). Target Leadership: Women-led startups and young founders (under age 35) are strongly prioritized for selection.

The Claude for Startups Program is Anthropic's flagship acceleration initiative designed to give early-stage founders direct access to Claude models, compute credits, and ecosystem perks without taking equity. Capital Package & Program Perks Direct API Credits: $1,000 USD in first-party Claude API credits applied directly to your Claude Console organization. Partner VC Top-Ups: Up to $100,000 USD in additional API credits available if backed by an Anthropic partner venture capital firm. Free Claude Team Seats: 1 year of Claude Team free (up to 5 Premium seats) for new Team accounts. Equity Terms: 0% Equity / 100% Non-Dilutive (0% equity, warrants, or success fees). The Claude Startup Stack: Up to $45,000 USD in partner perks and discounts across AI-native tooling (e.g., ElevenLabs, Hex Enterprise, ClickHouse Cloud). Technical Support & Community: Biweekly office hours with Anthropic’s Applied AI team, higher default API rate limits, and access to founder meetups and hackathons. Eligibility Criteria Company Recency: Startup must have been founded in the last 5 years or raised funding in the last 2 years. Funding Status: Open to bootstrapped, pre-seed, and venture-backed startups (institutional investor backing is no longer required). Console Account: Must have an active Claude Console organization tied to a company domain email matching your startup's website.

The Dalai Lama Fellows (DLF) Program (2027 Cohort) (hosted via the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia at is a global 1-year leadership program for emerging changemakers. Rather than functioning as a direct venture fund, DLF operates as a contemplative leadership incubator . It blends self-awareness, mindfulness, and compassion training ( Head, Heart, and Hands framework) with personalized 1-on-1 coaching to support founders leading grassroots social change initiatives. Fellowship Package & Value Creation Direct Project Funding: $0 USD direct cash grants . (The fellowship invests entirely in the leader's human capital, training, and global network rather than providing direct project capital). Equity Terms: 0% Equity / 100% Non-Dilutive (Free to participate; non-sectarian and non-partisan). Fully Funded Leadership Assembly: All expenses paid to attend the mandatory 5-day Contemplative Leadership Assembly . 1-Year Support Architecture: Monthly 1-on-1 executive coaching tailored to personal development and project execution. Custom curriculum covering contemplative practices, cross-cultural communication, and complex systems thinking. Lifetime membership in the LifeLong Fellows Network . Eligibility Criteria To qualify for the 2027 cohort, applicants must meet all parameters: Age Requirement: Must be between 20 and 36 years old as of April 1, 2027. Project Status: Must be actively leading or have a concrete, actionable plan to launch a social change project addressing local community issues (e.g., health, climate, education, human rights, or economic equity). Applicants must have at least 6 months of experience working with their target community. Founder Role: Founders and non-founders are both eligible, provided the applicant holds a primary leadership role with decision-making authority over project outcomes. Time Commitment: Must commit approximately 12 hours per month for fellowship calls, reading reflections, and coaching sessions (excluding project delivery time). Language: Spoken and written English fluency.

The Absa Youth Entrepreneurship Fund (AYEF 2026/2027) , delivered in partnership with the Tshiamo Foundation , is a non-dilutive catalytic grant initiative for young South African founders. Combining phased conditional grant funding with a 12-month SMME capability-building framework, AYEF focuses on job-creating enterprises across three business maturity stages: Ideation, Start-up, and Growth. Capital Package & Non-Dilutive Terms Capital Type: 100% Non-Dilutive Conditional Grants (disbursed in tranches against agreed execution milestones and business performance benchmarks). Equity & Repayment: 0% Equity / No Repayment Required . (Includes a voluntary "Social Impact Payback" concept where alumni mentor future cohorts or contribute skills to local ecosystem initiatives). Non-Financial Support Package: 12 months of tailored SMME acceleration, technical capability-building, and operational coaching. 1-on-1 industry mentorship and direct access to Absa Enterprise & Supplier Development (ESD) supply chains. Direct graduation pathways into Absa SME Banking lines, credit facilities, and institutional development finance. Cohort Track Distribution The AYEF pilot cohort funds youth-led businesses across three distinct tiers: Ideation Track (130 Entrepreneurs): For validated concepts with clear market feasibility. Start-Up Track: For early-stage businesses with an MVP or initial trading history. Growth Track: For revenue-generating, job-creating enterprises ready to scale operations. Eligibility Criteria To qualify, applicant businesses must meet all baseline criteria: Age & Shareholding: Majority youth-owned ( at least 50.1% ownership held by individuals aged 18 to 36 ). Geographic Scope: Legally registered and operating within South Africa (or trading as a sole proprietor). Impact Focus: Must demonstrate clear job-creation potential (employing or planning to employ others in local communities). Exclusions: Excludes state-owned enterprise/government officials, gambling, pyramid schemes, or un-rehabilitated insolvents.

The AWS Generative AI Accelerator (profiled on directory platforms like Inside Startups) is Amazon’s flagship global 8-week hybrid program designed for early-stage generative AI and agentic AI startups. Part of AWS’s $230M global commitment to AI startups, it offers massive non-dilutive cloud compute to help ventures build, train, and scale frontier models and complex AI infrastructure. Capital Package & Equity Model Direct Compute Credits: Up to $1,000,000 USD in AWS Promotional Credits per accepted startup (covers Amazon Bedrock, SageMaker, Trainium, and Inferentia chips). Equity Terms: 0% Equity / 100% Non-Dilutive (Free to participate; zero equity, warrants, or success fees required). Go-To-Market & Ecosystem Benefits: Technical architectural guidance from AWS AI specialists and partners (NVIDIA, Meta, Mistral AI). Co-selling support and integration into the AWS Marketplace . In-person kickoff in Seattle , 6 virtual weeks, and a closing demo showcase at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas . Eligibility Criteria Core Technology: Must be building core generative AI solutions, agentic workflows, or proprietary foundation models. Team Requirements: CEO co-founder must hold at least 51% ownership, and the team must include a dedicated CTO or technical lead. Maturity & Stage: Early-stage (Pre-Seed to Series A) with a functional prototype or MVP, demonstrated technical differentiation, and early market validation. Geographic Scope: Open globally to legally registered startups.

The Creative Scotland Forward Fund on Kickstarter (hosted at [kickstarter.com/creative-scotland](https://kickstarter.com/creative-scotland)) is a joint initiative between Kickstarter and Creative Scotland (funded via the Scottish Government and National Lottery). The initiative provides direct, non-dilutive pledge funding to Scotland-based creators launching crowdfunding campaigns across creative, artistic, and cultural disciplines. Capital Structure & Tiered Match Funding To unlock Forward Fund capital, a project must first reach at least 25% of its overall crowdfunding target from public backers. Once the 25% threshold is hit, Kickstarter and Creative Scotland deploy direct non-dilutive pledges based on campaign tiers: Tier 1 (Small Campaigns): £500 GBP direct pledge for campaigns targeting £1,000 to £2,500 . Tier 2 (Mid-Sized Campaigns): £1,000 GBP direct pledge for campaigns targeting £2,500 to £6,000 . Tier 3 (Large Campaigns): £2,500 GBP direct pledge for campaigns targeting £6,000 or more . Equity Terms: 0% Equity / 100% Non-Dilutive (Creators retain complete ownership, copyright, and IP). Eligible Creative Categories Open across Kickstarter’s creative verticals: Art, Comics, Crafts, & Design Dance, Theater, & Film/Video Fashion, Photography, & Publishing Music, Games, & Journalism Eligibility Criteria Location: Primary creator/organization must be based in Scotland . Campaign Status: Projects must be in Draft mode or Live on Kickstarter. Public Traction: Must achieve 25% organic backer funding to trigger the pledge. All-or-Nothing Rule: Standard Kickstarter rules apply—the campaign must reach 100% of its total goal by its deadline to receive any funds.