Grace Ashiru
For the first time on the continent, a fund has been created with one singular focus: getting capital into the hands of founders building technology for people with disabilities.
The Assistive Technologies for Disability Trust (AT4D) has announced a strategic partnership with the Judith Neilson Foundation to launch the Momentous Pilot Fund — Africa’s first early-stage investment pilot dedicated entirely to assistive technology innovation. The $500,000 fund arrives at a time when access to assistive technologies across the continent remains critically low despite a large and growing need. According to the World Health Organisation, nearly 200 million people in Africa require at least one assistive product, yet only one in ten can actually obtain what they need.
The fund will prioritize solutions advancing mobility, communication, inclusive education, independent living, and digital accessibility, with up to five early-stage African assistive technology ventures set to receive tailored support — spanning catalytic investment, technical assistance, venture-building resources, and strategic partnerships.
The partnership was formally signed in Sydney during the Remarkable Summit and witnessed by the founding team of the Inclusive Innovation Network. For AT4D founder and CEO Bernard Chiira, the moment carried both professional and personal weight. He described it as a deeply significant step in the organization’s mission and in his own journey.
The structural challenge the fund is trying to solve is not just financial — it is also perceptual. Disability innovation is often viewed as charity-aligned rather than commercially viable, and that perception has historically restricted access to growth capital for founders working in this space. AT4D Investment Manager Harry Ochieng addressed this directly, saying the Momentous Fund is a chance to demonstrate that the sector holds real opportunities for investment, genuine impact, and sustainable returns.
AT4D itself was founded in 2023 by Bernard Chiira and already runs the Innovate Now accelerator, which has backed startups including Signvrse — a platform using AI and 3D avatars to translate speech and text into real-time sign language — as well as mobility startup Linccell Technologies and the education platform Village2Nation.
Beyond supporting individual ventures, the Momentous Fund is designed to test and validate a broader, Africa-led investment model for assistive technology. The insights gathered during this pilot phase will directly inform the design of a second phase of the fund, with the longer-term ambition of expanding disability-focused innovation financing across the continent.
Startups in the space are beginning to tackle accessibility gaps using mobile technology, artificial intelligence, and lower-cost hardware tailored to local markets — while governments and development institutions are also stepping up support for inclusive technology as part of wider digital transformation strategies. Early-stage capital, however, has remained scarce because investors have tended to categorise disability innovation as social impact work rather than a scalable technology market. The Momentous Fund is a direct challenge to that assumption.
