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 (about Euro 10-million) globally.
SAIF is expanding fast to reach more countries. Currently, SAIF is active in eight 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.
The fund is inviting candidate African AI companies to apply.
This fund is available in different forms in limited amounts for specific purposes (typically Euro 10 000 to Euro 15 000) 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.
To be eligible to receive funds from SAIF candidates need to apply through SAIF’s official partners and for the initial Africa funding call via The AI Media Group. The fund is looking for companies based in Africa primarily at pre-seed stage that have developed solutions and services leveraging AI.