The Judith Neilson Foundation, an Australia-based philanthropy group, has partnered with the Million Lives Collective (MLC) to launch the new African Cities Innovation Fund, aimed at accelerating tech-enabled urban solutions across Africa.
The initiative was introduced at the International Development Innovation Alliance (IDIA) global summit, hosted at CcHub-backed iHub in Nairobi, and will offer grants of up to $75,000 to cross-sector teams developing digital tools and infrastructure models to address challenges in transport, climate stress and access to essential services.
Rather than supporting single startups, the organisers said the fund prioritises collaborative projects that bring together civic organisations, technology ventures and public agencies.
“Across the continent, innovators, community organisations, entrepreneurs, artists and public sector actors are already finding and scaling new ways to improve mobility, expand access to resources and services, strengthen local economies, create safe and vibrant public spaces, and build resilience to climate and economic shocks,” Jite Phido, Senior Program Manager at the MLC and Results for Development, said.
What You Need to Know
According to the organisers, applications will open in March 2026, with each grant supporting the design and pilot of a joint project rather than a standalone organisational initiative.
Organisers argue that the most pressing urban challenges increasingly sit at the intersection of multiple sectors. As such, pilot teams will be expected to combine skills across technology builders, community organisations and public agencies from the outset, strengthening the likelihood of adoption and policy alignment.
Selected project teams will also receive technical support, including coaching on partnership management and access to IDIA’s collaboration lab, a platform that connects innovators with global development funders.
The goal is to assess whether proposed ideas work under real-world conditions, and whether the partnerships behind them are durable enough to scale.
For this new urban-focused fund, priority areas include:
- Climate-resilient infrastructure
- Youth mobility and transport innovation
- Digital access and connectivity for underserved communities
- Community wellbeing and public space improvements
A separate call inviting new members to join the Million Lives Collective will open in January, broadening the network of ventures eligible for future collaborations.
A Model Informed by Earlier Collaboration Grants
The Million Lives Collective has been running collaborative grant programmes since 2022, primarily in health innovation and women’s economic participation, supported by funders such as the Gates Foundation and Bayer Foundation.
Its shift into urban innovation reflects a recognition that city-scale challenges often break down when trust, logistics and public authority become determining factors.
Past participants from earlier programmes, including Kenya’s 4Life Solutions, which delivers safe drinking water to low-income communities, have emphasised that partnerships with local institutions were essential in moving from pilot stages to wider adoption. Technology alone, organisers say, is rarely enough.
What This Means
The launch comes at a critical moment for African cities, which are expanding at approximately 3.5% annually, the highest urbanisation rate in the world.
The continent’s urban population, already over 600 million is projected to double to roughly 1.4 billion people by 2050, putting unprecedented strain on transport systems, housing, water supply, waste management and climate-resilient infrastructure.
At the same time, venture funding for civic and climate-focused innovation has cooled. African startups raised an estimated $2.2 billion in 2024, a drop of more than 20% from the previous year, with early-stage ventures and non-fintech sectors experiencing the steepest decline.
Against this backdrop, donors are increasingly shifting away from traditional startup-only grants towards partnership-based models that test whether innovations can scale sustainably through collaboration with local governments and community institutions. The African Cities Innovation Fund is an active test of that shift.
As African cities continue to urbanise at unprecedented speed, experts say the African Cities Innovation Fund represents a renewed effort to channel resources towards solutions that are both scalable and locally grounded.
Talking Points
The launch of the African Cities Innovation Fund signals a timely intervention, especially as African cities struggle to keep up with the pace of population growth and rising pressure on urban services.
At Techparley, we recognise that solutions for transport, climate resilience, and access to basic services work best when civic actors, technologists and public agencies begin building together, not in silos.
By offering grants of up to $75,000 and technical support, the fund lowers the barrier for early experimentation, enabling teams to test new models without the heavy capital typically required for city-scale innovation.
However, the real test will be whether these partnerships endure beyond the pilot phase. Strong alignment, local trust, and regulatory navigation will determine which solutions are actually adopted by cities.
As the programme rolls out, we see an opportunity for the fund to become a blueprint for how African urban innovation is financed, shifting the focus from standalone ventures to ecosystem-level collaborations capable of driving long-term impact.
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