Google funds hub for disbursement of $100,000 fund to startups in Africa
Co-creation Hub (CcHUB) on Thursday announced a partnership with Google for Startups to lead the disbursement of the Black Founders Fund Africa.
The fund would provide grants and technical support to early-stage startups in Africa to grow their companies and create meaningful impact in their communities.
Mr Bosun Tijani, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Co-creation hub, in a statement on Friday, said it was heartwarming to see Google’s continued commitment to strengthening and elevating the start-up ecosystem in Africa.
“Google was one of the early believers in tech entrepreneurs across Africa and the evolution of the support over the last 10 years, reflect a thoughtful and contextualised commitment.
“This programme will not only empower founders across the continent but also deepen the pipeline and unlock follow-on funding from both local and foreign investors.
“It is extremely timely,” he said.
He said the fund, which is a non-dilutive (equity-free) fund, would be allocated across a pipeline of 50 investable early-stage startups in Africa and selected companies would receive the fund.
“Up to 100,000 dollars in cash awards, each startup will receive either 50,000 or 100,000 dollars.
“Funding varies according to each startup’s product development stage, current needs and how much they’ve already raised.
“There will be 220,000 dollars in Google Cloud Credits and Ad Grants, mentoring, technical and scaling assistance from the best of Google and its resources,” he noted.
He said the eligible startup would be the one headquartered in Africa or had a legal presence on the continent with a founding team that was diverse, with at least one Black C-level founding member.
“A Technology startup with a live product in market or business where technology is core to their ability to scale (not for consultancies or not-for-profits).
“A startup with services that is compatible with Google products,” he said.
The deadline for application is July 7, 2021.
