Google has announced the second $4 million Black Founders Fund, which will provide up to $100,000 in equity-free cash prizes to 60 African startups, as well as up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credits and mentorship, technical, and scaling help from the best of Google.
The news follows the successful launch of the first Black Founders Fund in Africa program in 2021, which supported 50 black-led firms throughout the continent.
According to Google, those firms have raised $73 million or more in follow-on funding, employed 518 employees, and increased their revenues.
“In 2021, African tech startups collectively raised $4.3 billion – a 2.5x increase from 2020 funding. This growth, however encouraging, does not discount the existence of a significant funding gap for locally-founded African startups as 82% of them report difficulties in accessing funding.” read the statement by Folarin Aiyegbusi, Head of Startup Ecosystem, Sub Saharan Africa.
Google is currently accepting applicants from the following countries in Africa: Botswana, Cameroun, Côte D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. It adds that they will consider very strong applications from other African countries not listed.
Each startup will receive either $50,000 or $100,000 with the funding varying according to each startup’s product development stage, current needs, and how much they’ve already raised.
Applications are open now until May 31st and can be done here.
To be eligible for the application;
Startups must be:
- Headquartered in Africa or has a legal presence on the continent
- Building for Africa and a global market
- Creating jobs, able to show growth potential to raise more funding, and making an impact
With a founding team that is:
- Diverse, with at least one Black C-level founding member
- Directly supporting the Black community
Technical requirements:
- Technology startups with a live product in-market or a business where technology is core to their ability to scale (the initiative is not for consultancies or not-for-profits)
- Compatibility with Google products—our products can accelerate your growth