Opportunities
Grants, VC funds, accelerators, and competitions for African entrepreneurs.
Grants, VC funds, accelerators, and competitions for African entrepreneurs.
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$250,000 uncapped MFN SAFE + $350K+ cloud credits
AI Grant is a pre-seed accelerator program run by Nat Friedman (former GitHub CEO) and Daniel Gross (former Apple AI lead). Originally launched in 2017 as a non-dilutive research grant, it has evolved into a $250K investment program via uncapped MFN SAFE. The program includes a weekend summit with peers and advisors in San Francisco, a demo day in front of invite-only investors, and $350K+ in Microsoft Azure cloud credits. No credentials required — they look for technical, pragmatic founders building useful AI products. Approximately 60 companies incubated to date.
$250,000 investment via uncapped MFN SAFE
$350,000+ in Microsoft Azure cloud credits
Weekend summit with peers and world-class AI advisors in San Francisco
Demo day presentation to invite-only group of top investors
Access to Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross's network
Potential follow-on from NFDG ($1.1B fund)
Community of 60+ AI Grant alumni founders
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
AI Products
AI Infrastructure
AI Applications
Technical, pragmatic founders building great AI products. Anything that leverages AI models in a useful or engaging way. No credentials required. They value builder mentality over pedigree. Global applicants welcome, including from Africa.
Access to Friedman/Gross network, Azure cloud credits, alumni community, potential NFDG follow-on investment, investor introductions through demo day.
Not Africa-specific but open to African founders. Has shifted from non-dilutive grant to SAFE investment — name is now misleading. Summit requires travel to San Francisco. Very competitive acceptance rate.
Despite the name 'Grant', this is now an investment ($250K SAFE), not a grant — it has evolved significantly since 2017. The uncapped MFN SAFE is very founder-friendly. The real value is access to Friedman and Gross's network and potential follow-on from their $1.1B NFDG fund. Global applicants are welcome but the summit is in San Francisco. Very competitive — strong technical demo or prototype dramatically improves chances.
2017
Active Since
Yes
Deploying
Early alumni include founders of Cohere ($2.2B valuation), Helia, and Cresta. Through NFDG fund: Perplexity AI ($20B), Safe Superintelligence, Reworkd. Approximately 60 companies incubated through AI Grant program.