Meet The 60 African Startup Recipients Of The 2022 Google Black Founders Fund

Sept. 7, 2022, 2:03 a.m.

Google has selected 60 African startups for its 2022 Google black founders fund initiative. The latest $4M Black Founders Fund in Africa gives these black-founded startups access to funding, up to $100K in equity-free cash, and an additional $200K in Google Cloud Credits.

The Google Black Founders project also connects founders with the very best of Google's people, products, and practices. At its core, the Black Founders Fund is a global initiative; hence, selected founders have the opportunity to connect with founders from all over the world.

Black founders in Africa disproportionately lack access to the networks and capital needed to grow their businesses. In 2020, with less than 0.5% of global venture capital (VC) funding going to Black-led startups, Google announced the Black Founders Fund and had since deployed $20M in funding to founders across the US, Europe, Africa, and Brazil.

Here are the recipients of the 2022 Google Black Founders Fund

South Africa

AgriKool is a B2B agricultural e-marketplace that connects producers and fresh produce buyers to a fair and reliable market.
Creditais CreditAIs provide credit scoring tools for micro-businesses and individuals that do not fit the existing traditional credit scoring models.
Mapha Mapha provides delivery as a service to businesses in peri-urban & township areas.
Rekisa Rekisa helps businesses create their eCommerce websites, and we also help them with various digital marketing activities.
Technovera Technovera has developed Pelebox- a Smart Locker Dispensing System that enables patients to collect their repeat chronic medication in under 30 seconds.

Ethiopia

Garri Logistics: Garri Logistics matches shippers looking to move cargo with vehicle owners and drivers while finding optimal route pairings to reduce empty miles.
Zayride: ZayRide is a customer-centric on-demand taxi service offering fast, convenient service throughout local areas in Ethiopia

Kenya

Ajua: Ajua is a startup building an end-to-end social commerce stack for SMEs to help them increase sales, find customers, and build lasting relationships with their customers.
Buupass: BuuPass is a travel startup - building digital rails for Africa’s intercity transport industry and supporting bus, train & flight transportation.
DohYangu: DohYangu enables end consumers in Africa to shop FMCG products & get cashback rewards at various retail stores, saving up to 25%.
Flexpay: FlexPay is a merchant-embedded digital savings platform that rewards customers for saving up for purchases - a save now buy later (SNBL) solution at checkout
Keep It Cool: Keep IT Cool is a fast-growing social enterprise that leverages technology to strengthen the African aquaculture and poultry Value Chain through cold chain and storage.
Leja: Leja is an Android/USSD application enabling African micro-entrepreneurs to digitize all their business transactions and manage all their finance in one place.
Solutech: Solutech helps field sales teams sell more and efficiently by leveraging powerful insights while providing FMCG companies with real-time data for day-to-day and strategic decision-making.
Synnefa: Synnefa is building Africa's first mini-farm ERP connected to IoT sensors that provide soil data which we combine with farmer activity data to create a farmer experience score that we pass on to financial partners to use on their credit score.
TIBU Health: TIBU Health is an omnichannel HealthTech company connecting patients to healthcare services and professionals at a time and location of their choosing.
TopUp Mama: TopUp Mama enables restaurants in Africa to purchase food supplies, access financial services, and manage their business.
Zanifu: Zanifu enables SMEs to purchase inventory and pay later.
Zuri Health: Zuri Health provides affordable and accessible healthcare services to patients across Sub-Saharan Africa via mobile app, website, Whatsapp chatbot, and SMS service.

Rwanda

BAG: BAG is a digital platform that provides students and graduates the opportunity to gain real work experiences through gamified job simulations from the top employers in Africa
BailPort: Bailport is a data-driven fintech company providing cross-border payment services to unbanked gig workers and micro-businesses via a blockchain platform.
Exuus: Exuus empowers informal saving groups with a digital ledger, digital wallet, decentralized social credit score, and instant micro-loans to both groups and individuals.
Kapsule: Kapsule is a data-as-a-service (DaaS) company that helps healthcare providers, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies make better decisions.
PesaChoice: PesaChoice bridges the gap in liquidity for low-middle income earners across the continent and drives access to financial services.
Pindo: Pindo is a cloud communication platform for businesses optimized for developers.

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Nigeria

Awabah: Awabah is a digital pension platform for Africa's workforce.
Bookings Africa: Bookings Africa enables Africa's gig workforce to digitize and monetize their skill by connecting clients efficiently and transparently to skilled talent across Africa.
Clafiya: Clafiya connects individuals, families, and businesses to health practitioners - enabling access to convenient, quality, and affordable, on-demand primary care from their mobile phones.
EdenLife: Eden Life provides an operating system for receiving and rendering essential services in Africa - focused on offering food, cleaning, laundry, and beauty services to our customers.
Estate Intel: Estate Intel provides reliable data to businesses that are investing or operating in the African real estate space.
Flex Finance: Flex Finance helps businesses in Africa manage approval workflow, access credit, issue corporate cards to employees and make disbursements all from one platform.
Gamr: Gamr is an eSports tournament aggregation platform helping African gamers discover tournaments they can play and get rewarded
Haul247: Haul247 is a logistics platform that connects manufacturing companies and farmers with trucks and warehouses.
Healthtracka: Founded in May 2021 by Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson (CEO) and Victor Amusan (Head of Product), Healthtracka is a platform that allows users to access on-demand healthcare services in the comfort of their homes.
HerVest: HerVest offers a highly secured, women-focused financial platform that enables women to participate in key financial services, focusing on female farmers.
Kyshi: Kyshi provides multi-currency accounts and remittance services to and from Africa.
LifeBank: LifeBank leverages technology to provide value in multiple segments (production, marketplace, and distribution) of the healthcare supply chain, such as blood, oxygen, and medical supplies.
Norebase: Launched in September 2021 by Tola Onayemi, Norebase provides a single digital platform and technology tools for entrepreneurs and businesses to start, scale, and operate in any African country and the United States.
One Health (HealthTech): OneHealth is an online pharmacy & healthcare platform that provides access to medicines, healthcare information, and solutions (Laboratory services & Doctors) to the last mile patient.
Pivo Africa: Founded by Ijeoma Akwiwu and Nkiru Amadi-Emina in 2021, Pivo Technologies is a Lagos-based credit-focused digital bank for trade, supporting African businesses.
QShop: QShop is an easy-to-use DIY e-commerce platform designed to help small and medium-sized businesses scale and sell better online.
Scrapays: Scrapays is creating an operating system infrastructure for the recycling value chain in developing nations.
Shiip: Shiip leverages web, mobile and API technology to connect individuals & businesses to delivery services in and out of Africa.
Spleet: Spleet leverages a ‘Rent Now, Pay Late’ model to drive its mission to ensure that every African can afford a space to live in.
Stears (Media): Stears is a financial intelligence company providing subscription-based content & data to global professionals.
TerraWork (Gig Economy): TERAWORK is an online freelance marketplace that matches freelancers to service buyers.
Topset (Edtech): Topset Education is an edtech platform that makes quality education accessible to Africans everywhere.
Wella Health: Wellahealth provides technology and financial tools to healthcare providers and patients to enable the affordability and accessibility of healthcare in emerging markets.

Uganda

ClinicPesa: ClinicPesa provides an easy-to-use platform where low-income users can set aside funds as low as $0.30 daily dedicated towards healthcare and access to healthcare loans.
Easy Matatu: Easy Matatu provides a mobile platform that allows commuters to book and pay for scheduled rides on vetted and inspected minibusses.
Eversend: Eversend is a neobank that provides critical financial products in Sub-Saharan Africa - including cross-border financial services.
Xente: Xente is a digital financial platform with in-built spend management to support African businesses.

Ghana

Built: Built enables access to business and financial tools for Sub-Saharan African small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Kudigo: Kudigo offers an omnichannel digital commerce platform to empower micro and small businesses in Africa
Zuberi: Zuberi is a fintech platform based out of Accra, built to provide financial products and services to salaried workers in a way they have never experienced before.

Cameroon

Bee: Bee finances motorcycles to drivers while also providing training and access to jobs.
COVA: COVA is a digital insurance platform that enables partner businesses to easily and seamlessly deliver insurance products to their users.
Healthlane: Healthlane provides advanced comprehensive health screening and personalized plans, biometric monitoring, genetic analysis, and in-person and virtual visits with top-rated doctors.

Botswana

Brastorne: Brastorne connects the unconnected in Africa, enabling rural villagers to access the digital world without smartphones or data.

Senegal

Cauri Money (Fintech): Cauri Money is a cashless remittance platform helping African migrants move money from around the world into mobile wallets in Africa.