In an effort to kick-start a greater number of Black tech founders in Europe, last year Google for Startups launched a $2 million (£1.5 million) grant fund to help tackle the quite obvious and stark racial inequality in the European tech industry. That fund ended up doubling to $4 million (£3 million) and now 40 Black-led tech starups across Europe will receive grants from the fund.
Each startup will be given $100,000 in non-dilutive cash awards, up to $200,000 in cloud credits and ad support, mentoring by industry execs and connections inside Google’s network.
Prior to the fund’s launch in 2021, less than 0.25% of venture capital (VC) funding went to Black-led startups in the U.K.
British tech startups will make up two-thirds of the 40 companies selected across Europe, and are spread across beauty, fashion, education, construction and food/beverage.
Marta Krupinska, Head of Google for Startups UK: “For the second year in a row we’ve been able to debunk the myth of the ‘pipeline problem’. Europe is home to a wealth of talent from underrepresented backgrounds – we’re so excited to have doubled last year’s fund and partner with 40 fantastic companies, of which two-thirds are based in the UK, and one third is led by women.”
The full list is below (with the descriptions supplied by the startups themselves):
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Full list of UK startups selected for the Black Founders Fund 2022:
Aline (Sweden): Lifelong Learning, quantified and validated for increased productivity in the Information Age.
Automi AI (France): Automi empowers manufacturers to automate much more tasks than ever possible. The platform uses ML to orchestrate mobile supercomputers that users connect to their workstations and train to perform repetitive tasks.
Base Plus (UK): Combining data, machine learning and formulation expertise to create precise and personalised skincare.
Beazy (Germany): SaaS-enabled marketplace for content production
Bloomful (UK): Delivering a digitally-enabled care pathway for better gynaecological health.
Boxx (UK): Combining boxing inspired fitness with smart tech to provide a fun and accessible way to workout.
Compare Ethics (UK): A Sustainable Product Intelligence and Compliance platform enabling companies to manage, verify, and confidently communicate responsible product claims at scale.
Deep Meta (UK): Predicting production defects in metals.
Devo (UK): An end-to-end operating system enabling the digital transformation of convenience stores.
Eccobell (UK): An ecosystem of on-demand web applications using contactless technology to innovate how people access, communicate and interact with each other, unrestricted by device.
Ekie (France): Ekie facilitates access to legal services for employees to improve the essential balance between their professional and personal lives.
Feniska (Germany): A Berlin based Health-Tech start-up building IoT products to help cat and dog owners track the health of their pets.
FoodLama (UK): Online grocery shopping with preferences, made easy.
Framework (UK): The world’s first on-demand business school, designed exclusively for startups.
Fresh Afrika (France): Fresh Afrika is a Paris based FoodTech company using the blockchain technology to deliver a better food experience and connect small scale farmers in Africa to the world.
GigBridge (UK): A recruitment platform for construction companies to find and hire skilled construction workers.
Goodloans (UK): AI-powered digital lending platform for emerging markets.
Hyfindr (Germany): The B2B marketplace for the hydrogen economy.
ID Protect (France): ID Protect is the 3D secure for identity documents, changing the game in prevention against fraud and identity theft.
Kuorum (Spain): SaaS for legal and secure online voting
Lenkie (UK): Providing the embedded lending infrastructure to enable online platforms to become a source of funding for their business users.
Liquisto (Germany): Liquisto is a data-driven platform of digital solutions for sustainably transforming excess industrial inventory into liquidity for manufacturers and new utility for end-users of industrial equipment.
Materials Nexus (UK): Accelerating the transition towards net-zero materials.
MoonHub (UK): Virtual Reality training platform.
Nolea (UK): Solving the healthcare demand-supply mismatch problem with our fractional clinician marketplace platform.
Owni (UK): A B2B SaaS company that enables fashion retailers and brands to reap the benefits of resale and the secondary market through a peer-to-peer resale platform
Pace Revenue (UK): Providing real-time, automated decision intelligence, and industry leading BI to the hospitality industry.
Propel (Germany): Propel is building multi-layered digital infrastructure to power the Tech Talent Economy.
PropElle (UK): The one-stop shop female focused investment platform centred on community, financial education and investments.
Reach Industries (UK): A platform that leverages computer vision, voice & ML to accelerate life sciences in labs.
Reframd (Germany): Inclusive eyewear products for a diverse world.
Ruka (UK): The Ruka vision is to become the definitive hair brand for black women globally, by building an ecosystem of hair solutions which truly work.
Sojo (UK): A sustainable fashiontech startup centralising & modernising the clothing repair and tailoring industry.
SympliFi (UK): A digital lending platform that facilitates access to credit to underserved micro and SME businesses in developing countries, by making lending borderless.
Tinto (UK): A wellbeing app for pregnant and postnatal mothers.
TRIM-IT (UK): The UK’s first app-powered mobile barber shops.
VerifyMy (UK): Creates safety tech solutions designed to make the internet safer by solving compliance and safeguarding problems with age assurance, identity authentication and content moderation.
Yuty (UK): Yuty powered by proprietary AI helps beauty consumers find the right beauty products sustainably!
Yvee (France): Yvee assists companies in the 3 main steps of a hiring process: sourcing, skills screening and selection.
Zest (Netherlands): Zest develops software-driven, personalisedpersonalized lifestyle treatment to prevent, control, & reverse chronic conditions such as diabetes without spending more on medications.
