Nigerian companies have dominated the list of qualified Startups in the multi-million dollar funded Google Black Founders Fund (BFF) program since it was established for the second year in a row. 23 Nigerian companies are among the 60 chosen to get a portion of Google’s $4 million initial financing on this year’s list, which includes 10 start-ups from the previous cohort who have been added to the program.
This is the second stage of Google’s program for African entrepreneurs, which aims to provide seed funding. Nigerian Startups account for one-third of the 2022 cohort with 23 qualified companies.
Half of the eligible businesses in 2021 were Nigerian startups, with 25 of 50 chosen to receive a $3 million share. Nigerian start-ups have dominated the Google Black Founders Fund for the past two years, outperforming tech startups from Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Botswana (BFF). Although the start-ups in the cohort are scattered throughout several industries, including food, media, and tourism, the bulk is in the finance, logistics, and healthcare sectors.
The achievement was announced along with the fact that the 60 start-ups for the 2022 cohort would also get non-dilutive prizes of between $50,000 and $100,000 and up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credit from Folarin Aiyegbusi, Google’s Head of Startup Ecosystem, Sub Sahara Africa. The enterprises in the 2022 cohort, which hail from Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda, are 50 percent owned and operated by women. Kenya submitted 12 startups, while Rwanda submitted 12 applications.
Others include Uganda with four slots, Botswana and Senegal with one selected startup each, Cameroon and Ghana with three slots each, and Ethiopia with two selected startups. South Africa has five selected startups.
