Black Founders Fund - Google for Startups (2024)

FAQs

What is Google for black startup founders? ›

The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund provides founders with $150K in non-dilutive capital to help fuel their businesses. Recipients will also receive up to $100K in Google Cloud credits, hands-on mentorship and support across the company, and access to mental health therapy at no cost.

$150,000 cash awards and hands-on support to help Black entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses in the US.

Venture capital (VC) funding for Black entrepreneurs in the US has been decreasing since a peak following George Floyd's murder in 2020. In 2023, Black founders in the US got only 0.48% of all venture dollars, about $661 million out of $136 billion, TechCrunch reports. This is the lowest in recent years.

The Google for Startups Founders Funds provide cash awards — without giving up equity in return — and hands-on support to help underrepresented founders build and grow their businesses.

If you're early in your startup journey and not yet backed with startup equity funding, you can receive up to $2,000 USD in credits* to use over a year to help your startup get up and running on Google Cloud, along with access to technical resources and our global startup community.

Launched in partnership with social enterprise Foundervine in 2020, the Black Founder Accelerator was set up to support early-stage tech businesses, founded by Black entrepreneurs who are facing these barriers to growth.

In March 2023, Founders Fund quietly cut the size of its eighth venture capital fund in half, from around $1.8 billion to around $900 million, to adapt to uncertain market conditions.

Equity and ownership

If you're a founder, you're typically going to receive a percentage of ownership in the form of shares of the startup. This is how VCs – and most top founders – think about their compensation and want to make money.

What is the highest earning black-owned business? ›

World Wide Technology is the largest Black-owned business with $17 billion in annual revenue. Black or African American women own an estimated 58,974 businesses with at least one employee, employing 481,930 employees. The number of Black-owned businesses increased 13.6% from 2017 to 2020.

Bezos Expeditions

He was one of the first shareholders in Google, when he invested $250,000 in 1998. That $250,000 investment resulted in 3.3 million shares of Google stock, worth about $3.1 billion in 2017.

GV (Google Ventures) typically looks to invest between $2m and $30m in a single deal. This is a guide only and the fund can go outside these limits for the right deal.

Is it safe to invest in Google? Google is a large-cap company with a strong balance sheet, steady revenue and earnings growth. According to most financial analysts (see above) the search engine company is among the safest technology companies to invest in for the long term.

Whenever you see this icon, it means that a business identifies as Black‑owned. your business when deciding where to buy. If you have a business with a storefront, you can also show that your business identifies as Black‑owned on Google Maps and Search.

The Black Googler Network (BGN) is an employee resource group of Googlers with a mission to cultivate Black leaders at Google and beyond, empower the communities where we operate, and transform the tech industry to reflect the diversity of its users.

What Programs Does Code Next Offer? Code Next is a free, computer science education program that meets Black, Latinx and Indigenous high school students in their own communities, and provides the skills and inspiration they need for long and rewarding careers in computer science-related fields.