Google has announced that 60 African startups are eligible for its Black Founders Fund second cohort. These selected startups will receive a total of $4 million in funding as well as other necessary support that assist them in scaling their operations. Out of these 60 startups, Nigeria took the biggest share with 23 eligible startups. 12 startups from Kenya, 6 from Rwanda, 5 from South Africa, and four from Uganda were the top part of the top 5 countries that were eligible for the Black Founders Fund. Cameroun had 3 startups, Ghana also had three, Ethiopia had 2 while Botswana and Senegal each had 1 startup each make the list.
According to Google, the Black Founders Fund which was inaugurated in April 2012 has created more than 4,600 jobs and raised over $290 million in funding.
Google will also be introducing the 60 eligible startups to its products, connections, and best practices. This, according to Google, will help them scale up and develop better products and services that would be highly beneficial to Africa’s economy. They also will be made to participate in customized workshops, support networks, and community-building activities, and will receive a 6-month training that will provide access to a chain of mentors that’ll assist them to tackle their unique challenges.
Each eligible startup is entitled to receive awards of between $50,000 and $100,000, and up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credit.
“Africa is a diverse continent with massive opportunity but the continent is faced with the challenge of limited diversity in venture capital funding flow. We hope that the Black Founders Fund program will be able to bridge the gap of disproportionate funding between expat startups over local and black-led companies,” Google’s Head of Startup Ecosystem for Africa Folarin Aiyebusi said.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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