Everything You Need To Know About Google’s European Black Founders Fund
This is to tackle the racial inequality in venture capital funding for entrepreneurs
Google has launched a £3 million fund to invest solely in black tech company founders in Europe. The fund will provide 40 founders with capital, in Google Cloud Credits, and access to the best of Google—people, products, and practices.
Back in 2020 the search giants deployed the ‘Black Founders Fund’ an accelerator initiative for new businesses, explaining, “Black founders in Europe disproportionately lack access to the networks and capital needed to grow their businesses.”
The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund provides cash awards and hands-on support to help Black entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses without requiring equity. Each successful start-up will be given £82,500 in cash awards, up to £165,000 in cloud credits and mentoring by industry experts.
Almost a third of the selected founders are women, and the startups cover all industries from health and fashion to security, fintech and education. While we often hear the lack of diversity in tech is a pipeline problem, the variety and strength of Google’s Black Founders start-up list show that this is not the case.
Start-ups that have already benefited from the fund are businesses like Sojo, the UK’s first clothing alterations and repairs app; Feniska, a Berlin-based pet tech startup creating devices to help cat and dog owners track critical health data; and Base Plus, making personalized skincare that’s heavily rooted in data, based in the UK. The complete list of start-ups can be found here.
The Black Founders Fund is just one way that Google works to help support historically underrepresented groups. In 2020, with YouTube being owned by Google, they announced the YouTube Black Voices Fund, which was created to directly support Black creators and artists so that they can thrive on YouTube.
In addition, Google claims to be working to improve representation at senior levels internally. Externally, Google is working to ensure that its products help Black users; examples of this include the inclusive Real Tone technology on the camera of the Pixel 6, which allows to more accurately portray the skin tone of different ethnicities, as well as the Black-owned feature on Search and Maps which will enable people to find and support Black-owned local businesses.
It has been clear for many years that Black founders do not have the same opportunities and support as many others, particularly regarding funding. This is even though, according to the upcoming Black Report 2022, 67% of Black-led tech startups in Europe generate significant revenue and jobs.
