“Non-dilutive cash grants and Google Cloud credits for Black-founded African startups, designed to close the funding gap Black founders face versus peers, deployed via annual cohorts across the continent.”
Google for Startups Black Founders Fund is a non-dilutive grant program for Black-founded startups across Africa, run annually in cohorts. The third cohort awarded $4 million across 25 African startups, each receiving up to $150,000 in cash grants alongside up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credits, advertising support, one-on-one mentoring, and access to Google's network.
Named grantees from the third cohort span multiple sectors: Akoma Health (healthtech), Chargel (logistics), Jumba, Susu (fintech, women-focused banking), EzyAgric (agritech), Excel At Uni, Herconomy, Zinacare, and Tushop (e-commerce/retail), among others in the 25-company cohort. Earlier cohorts ran similarly sized programs, with the second cohort granting $4M to 60 African startups.
This is a grant-track program, not an equity investment vehicle: Google takes no equity stake and the capital is explicitly non-dilutive. Under the fund population run's validation gate, named grant recipients on the program's own site count as verifiable African activity even where there's no equity portfolio.