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AUSTIN, TX –Google has awarded $ 500,000 to five Austin Black startup companies as part of its second $ 5 million Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, officials said Wednesday.
The five Austin companies were one of 50 founders who each received $ 100,000 for their startups. Officials said the fund is designed for black founders who build great businesses but are often excluded from access to the funding essential to success.
Local businesses included CustomerX.i, a customer intelligence and marketing automation platform; Journey Foods, a company addressing food science inefficiencies and problematic global supply chains; Sandbox Commerce, which helps traditional retailers launch custom, rapidly scalable mobile apps; The Mentor Method, a corporate platform that helps companies retain and develop their diverse talents through mentoring; and Tradeblock, a social marketplace that enables sneaker collectors to securely connect and swap collections.
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The awards are non-dilutive, which means the founders won’t give up any equity in the company in exchange for funding, officials said.
The fund also includes technical support from tools and teams at Google, including up to $ 120,000 in donated search ads from Google.org and up to $ 100,000 in Google Cloud credits.
Last year, Google for Startups provided up to $ 100,000 in non-dilutive funding to 76 black-led startups to help them keep their doors open, pay their employees, and get on with building their businesses to concentrate.
Those who received awards last year raised more than $ 50 million in funds, and 80 percent of recipients used the funds to create jobs.
“The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund embodies our mission to help underrepresented founders grow their businesses. We are excited to continue the fund and provide unconditional funding for black founders. Black founders currently receive less than 1 percent of total VC funds. Financing, “says Jewel Burks Solomon, Head of Google for Startups US. “We heard loud and clear from the recipients of the Fund 2020 that Google for Startups and Goodie Nation were critical to their success not only through funding, but also through community, mentoring, network connections and technical know-how.”
In addition to the five companies in Austin, three companies in Houston and two companies in the Dallas area were elected to the second cohort of the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund.
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