Global Innovation Fund

The Global Innovation Fund invests in social innovations that aim to improve the lives and opportunities of millions of people in the developing world.

Through our grants and risk capital, we support breakthrough solutions to global development challenges from social enterprises, for-profit firms, non-profit organisations, researchers, and government agencies.

We are global in breadth and scope: open to the best approaches to solve any major development problem in low- or lower-middle income countries. We seek solutions that can scale up commercially, through the public/philanthropic sector, or through a combination of both in order to achieve widespread adoption.

GIF offers grants, loans (including convertible debt), and equity investments ranging from £30,000 to £10 million. We provide financing at three different stages to meet the needs of innovators at varying phases of their development, ranging from early start-up to larger scale implementation.

We define ‘innovation’ broadly to include new business models, policy practices, technologies, behavioral insights, or ways of delivering products and services that benefit the poor in developing countries.

GIF is nonprofit innovation fund headquartered in London. We are supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the United States Agency for International Development, the Omidyar Network, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australia. To date, these partners have pledged over £125 million over the next five years.