Source: Noam Galai / Getty
Among the immense amount of racial inequality in the world, it also bleeds over into business.
Now, Google is doing something about it by launching its Black Founders Fund which will receive up to $100,000 to 76 Black-led startups in the United States. The first startup to get the big check is Jarrett Hines, the founder of Music Tech Works. The company is beneficial as it helps television, movie, advertising, video game, and podcast production companies found out who owns the rights to the music they want to use in whatever works they are creating.
Black ownership isn’t the only reason these businesses have been chosen to receive funding. Many are also struggling to continue providing their services because of COVID-19 and its long-lasting effects as Americans continue to fight it for the eighth month.
“We are committed to helping Black founders who have been deeply impacted by COVID-19 and who are disproportionately locked out of access to the funding they need to succeed,” said Atlanta-based Jewel Burks Solomon, Head of Google for Startups US. “By combining cash awards with Google for Startups mentorship and programming, we hope to help create a more level playing field for these founders, who are building amazing companies and making an impact on their communities.”
The other 75 founders are also creating some life-changing businesses like Qoins, which is an app that helps you get out of debt, Varuna, which ensures that communities have clean drinking water and Hued, which makes healthcare easier to understand and more accessible.
According to Forbes, less than one percent of VC goes to Black founders, so helping fund these companies as they try to solve issues that disproportionately affect their community is the push they need.
You can see all the companies helping create change here.
