Internet search giant Google says 60 eligible black-founded start-ups across Africa have been selected for the second cohort of Google for Start-ups Black Founders Fund for Africa.
In a statement, Google says the start-ups joining the programme will receive a total of $4 million (R69 million) in funding and support to enable them to scale up their ongoing work.
Last year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company will invest $1 billion over a period of five years to support digital transformation in Africa.
At the time, Google said it will utilise a Black Founders Fund to invest in black-led start-ups in Africa “by providing cash awards and hands-on support”.
In May, Google opened applications to fund 60 eligible black-founded start-ups across Africa.
The fund was launched in the wake of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement as part of Google’s racial equality commitments. The initiative is a pledge by the company towards driving economic opportunity for black business owners.
According to research firm Africa: The Big Deal, funding for start-ups in Africa more than doubled to $3.1 billion (R53 billion) in the first six months of the year.
Start-ups from South Africa selected for the new Google programme are Agrikool, CreditAIs, Mapha, Rekisa and Technovera.
According to Google, each of the selected start-ups will receive support in the form of a six-month training programme that includes access to a network of mentors to assist in tackling challenges that are unique to them.
They will also be part of tailored workshops, support networks and community building sessions. The 60 grantees will also get non-dilutive awards of between $50 000 and $100 000 and up to $200 000 in Google Cloud credit, says the internet search firm.
It adds that the grantees, made up of 50% women-led businesses, hail from Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.
They specialise in sectors such as fintech, healthcare, e-commerce, logistics, agtech, education, hospitality and smart cities.
The top five countries with the most start-ups selected for the programme are Nigeria with 23 grantees, Kenya with 12 grantees, Rwanda with six grantees, South Africa with five grantees and Uganda with four grantees.
Botswana and Senegal have one selected start-up each, Cameroon and Ghana both have three grantees each, while Ethiopia has two selected grantees.
“Africa is a diverse continent with massive opportunity but the continent is faced with the challenge of limited diversity in venture capital funding flow,” says Folarin Aiyegbusi, Google head of start-ups in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“We hope the Black Founders Fund programme will be able to bridge the gap of disproportionate funding between expat start-ups over local and black-led companies.”
Launched in April 2012, the Google for Start-ups programme has created over 4 600 jobs and raised more than $290 million in funding, says the US-based company.
The Google for Start-ups Black Founders Fund programme will introduce the grantees in Africa to Google’s products, connections and best practices, which will help the founders to level the playing field as they build better products and services that add value to the Africa economy, it adds.
Funding for the Google for Start-ups Black Founders Fund will be distributed through Google’s implementation partner, CcHUB.
“The equity-free cash assistance to start-ups will enable them to take care of immediate needs, such as paying staff, funding inventory and maintaining software licences. This is to help the grantees buffer the cost of taking on debt in the early stages of their business, as many of them do not have steady revenue streams yet,” Aiyegbusi concludes.
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