Nigeria Tops List Of African Startups Picked For Equity-Free Funding From Google

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Nigerian startups topped the list as 60 companies across Africa were on Tuesday selected for the second cohort of Google for Startups Black Founders Fund.

Each of the selected startups will receive support in the form of a 6-month training programme that includes tailored workshops, community-building sessions, and access to a network of mentors to assist in tackling challenges that are unique to them.
The 60 startups will also get equity-free funding between $50,000 and $100,000, and up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credit.

At an event held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, Folarin Aiyegbusi, Head of Startup Ecosystem, Africa said, “We’re proud that we were able to reach gender parity in this cohort. The grantees, made up of 50% women-led businesses, hail from Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda.

Launched in April 2012, the Google for Startups programme has created over 4,600 jobs through the startups it invested in, with the startups going on to raise more than $290 million in funding.

“We looked at three key factors when selecting startups: Product-market fit, startup-programme fit, and founder potential.

“The companies we have selected are those that have found product-market fit, the programme must be beneficial to them beyond just the money and the founders must be people that have the potential to create enormous value,” Aiyegbusi said.

The fund, which is sector-agnostic, selected startups from a wide range of sectors including fintech, healthcare, e-commerce, logistics, agritech, education, hospitality, and smart cities.

The top five countries with the most startups selected for the program are Nigeria with 23 grantees, Kenya with 12 grantees, Rwanda with six grantees, South Africa with five grantees, and Uganda with four grantees. Cameroon and Ghana both have three grantees each while Ethiopia has two selected grantees. Botswana and Senegal have one selected startup each.

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