The Black Founders Fund is aimed at startups that have in their shareholder board active founders who declare themselves black, are established and operating in Brazil, and are seeking investments in the pre-seed or seed stage.
Google for Startups invests financial resources, without any counterpart or equity stake, in startups founded and led by black entrepreneurs in Brazil. Google for Startups' goal with this initiative is to expand racial diversity in the startup ecosystem and support black entrepreneurs.
The potential startups go through evaluation criteria to be selected by the program. They are:
- Growth potential of the startup and the solution's ability to positively impact the lives of Brazilians;
- Founders' vision, goal alignment, and complementarity among the startup team;
- Use of technology as the basis of the solution;
- Be seeking a seed investment round to fund the startup's next stage of development;
"...We do this by connecting entrepreneurs and startups to Google's main strengths...", says the Head of Google for Startups, André Barrence. The first fund, launched in 2020 and with R$5 million, applied to 33 companies. The second, which was announced earlier this year, has R$8.5 million and should provide resources to between 25 and 30 companies.
You can watch in the video below, made in the PodCast Café com Investidor, Barrence talks about how Google for Startups came about, offers more details about the Black Founders Fund and its investment strategy, and analyzes what has been done in the Brazilian entrepreneurial ecosystem to increase inclusion and diversity.
