Call for applications: 2022 Google Black Founders Fund for Africans

The initiative provides recipients with access to capital, a barrier for many businesses across the continent. The fund will provide $4m for 60 startups in Africa with up to $100 000 in equity-free cash awards, $200 000 per startup in Google Cloud credits, as well as mentorship, technical and scaling support from Google.

Who can apply?

The fund is accepting applications from the following African countries:

• Botswana
• Cameroon
• Ivory Coast
• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• Kenya
• Mozambique
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Zimbabwe

The countries are Google’s prime focus due to their active tech and startup ecosystems, but strong applications from other African countries will be considered, the company said.

Requirements

• Early-stage startups with black founders or diverse founding teams operating and headquartered in Africa.
• The product must be in the market, and the business must be ready to fundraise.

Interested applicants can find more information here and apply here.

The application deadline is 31 May.

The inaugural Black Founders Fund in Africa programme saw 50 black-led businesses across the continent receive funding, including Nigerian ticketing company Tix Africa, South African all-risk insurance provider Pineapple and Kenyan employee-management platform Workpay. The recipients went on to raise more than $73m in follow-on funding, employ more than 500 staff members and grow their revenues.

Over the years, Google for Startups through the Google for Startups Accelerator and Partner programmes, has supported more than 1 500 startups in Africa, and their success speaks for itself as today 20% of all venture capital funding deployed on the continent is going to the Google for Startups Africa alumni community. In 2021, African tech startups collectively raised $4.3bn, two-and-a-half times more than the previous year. About 82% of startups in Africa have reported difficulties accessing capital.

View the original call here.