Meet the 60 black-founded start-ups now funded by Google

Internet giant Google has released the names of the 60 black-founded start-ups across Africa who have been selected for the second cohort of its Startups Black Founders Fund (BFF) for Africa. The start-ups joining the programme will receive a total of $4 million in funding and support to enable them to scale up their ongoing work. 

Startups from South Africa include Agrikool, CreditAIs, Mapha, Rekisa and Technovera. Each of them 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.

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, head of Startup Ecosystem, SSA. “We hope that 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 Startups programme has created over 4 600 jobs and raised more than $290 million in funding. The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund will introduce  African grantees  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.

Funding for the Google for Startup 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.

Below is the list of the 60 start-ups that were selected:

• Agrikool, South Africa.
• Ajua, Kenya.
• Awabah, Nigeria.
• BAG Innovation, Rwanda.
• Bailport, Rwanda.
• Bee, Cameroon.
• Bookings Africa, Nigeria.
• Brastorne, Botswana.
• Built, Ghana.
• BuuPass, Kenya.
• Cauri Money, Senegal.
• Clafiya, Nigeria.
• ClinicPesa, Uganda.
• COVA, Cameroon.
• CreditAls, South Africa.
• DohYangu, Kenya.
• Easy Matatu, Uganda.
• Eden Life, Nigeria.
• Estate Intel, Nigeria.
• Eversend, Uganda.
• Exuus, Rwanda.
• Flex Finance, Nigeria.
• FlexPay, Kenya.
• Gamr, Nigeria.
• Garri Logistics, Ethiopia.
• Haul 247, Nigeria.
• Healthlane, Cameroon.
• Healthtracka, Nigeria.
• HerVest, Nigeria.
• Kapsule, Rwanda.
• Keep IT Cool, Kenya.
• KUDIGO, Ghana.
• Kyshi, Nigeria.
• Leja, Kenya.
• LifeBank – Nigeria
• Mapha – South Africa
• Norebase – Nigeria
• OneHealth – Nigeria
• PesaChoice – Rwanda
• Pindo – Rwanda
• Pivo – Nigeria
• QShop- Nigeria
• Rekisa – South Africa
• Scrapays Inc – Nigeria
• Shiip – Nigeria
• Solutech – Kenya
• Spleet – Nigeria
• Stears – Nigeria
• Synnefa – Kenya
• Technovera – South Africa
• Terawork – Nigeria
• Tibu Health – Kenya
• Topset Education – Nigeria
• TopUp Mama – Kenya
• Wellahealth – Nigeria
• Xente – Uganda
• Zanifu – Kenya
• ZayRide – Ethiopia
• Zuberi – Ghana
• Zuri Health – Kenya

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