Three South African Startups Receive Funding from Google’s $4 Million Black Founders Fund

Google for Startups (GfS) has included three South African start-ups in its $4 million (R73.6 million) Black Founders Fund. This fund provides equity-free grants and mentoring to early-stage black-led high-growth businesses across Europe and Africa to tackle systemic racial inequality in venture capital funding. The 40 start-ups selected from Europe and Africa include 25 African start-ups where those led or co-founded by women make up 72% of the group. The funding provides each chosen business with non-dilutive cash awards of up to $150,000, up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credits, Ad support, 1:1 mentoring by industry experts, and valuable connections within Google’s network. The selected start-ups are South African online healthcare platform Zinacare, South African digital HMO provider HealthDart, and South Africa’s Excel At Uni provider of digital services supporting student funders. The funding aims to help entrepreneurs expand into new markets, supercharging job creation and economic opportunities.