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Announcing the 2023 recipients of our Black and Latino Founders Funds

Jul 13, 2023

[[read-time]] min read

We’re announcing 46 new U.S. recipients of the Google for Startups Black and Latino Founders Funds.

Lisa Gevelber
Lisa Gevelber
VP, Google for Startups
Two men sit coworking on their laptop side by side at a desk in a brightly-lit office.
Untapped Solutions founders Andre & Daniel

Today, we’re announcing 46 U.S. recipients of this year’s Google for Startups Black Founders Fund and Latino Founders Fund. Beyond $150,000 in equity-free cash to help fuel their business, participants in our Founders Fund program receive sales and fundraising training, technical support from Google mentors, up to $100,000 in Google Cloud credits, mental health coaching from a team of Black and Latino therapists, and participation in an amazing community.

These founders are solving some of our most pressing problems. For example, three weeks ago, I had the chance to meet with and award Mariza Hardin participation in our Founders Fund program for her startup, Zócalo Health. Zócalo’s AI-powered telemedicine app is helping increase access to affordable healthcare for the Latino community in the U.S.

Mariza joins founders like Carlos Gaitan of Benchmark Labs, a startup using Google’s AI tools to help farmers better predict weather patterns to improve their crop yields; Erika Hairston of EdLyft, a platform that prepares college students for careers in computer science; and Zara Perumal of Overwatch Data, a cybersecurity startup that protects companies by detecting and analyzing business risks.

The Google for Startups Founders Fund community continues to grow around the world. Over the past month, we've welcomed a total of 99 Black Founders Fund recipients in the US, Africa, Europe and Brazil. Since 2020 we’ve provided more than $45 million in cash funding to 547 Black and Latino founders. We’ve seen our Founders Funds have a catalytic effect for founders, helping them raise further capital. Past recipients have gone on to raise over $400 million in investment after being selected and they’ve used these funds to create jobs and grow their revenues.

We’re looking forward to working with these businesses to help them reach their full potential. Hear from recipients of our U.S. Black and Latino Founders Funds in their own words, and learn more about all of the 2023 recipients on startup.google.com. 

  • A man in a blue shirt and a woman in a black blazer sit side by side, hands folded, in matching chairs in front of a gray wall.

    Erik Cardenas and Mariza Hardin

    Zócalo Health (Kenmore, Washington)

    Zócalo Health is a virtual-first primary care service for Latino communities that takes into account their unique cultural, social, and healthcare needs.

  • A woman in a white shirt sits next to a man in a black shirt at a white marble table. Behind them is a large glass door.

    Calvin Waddy and Shelby Baldwin

    Buzzbassador (Dallas, Texas)

    Buzzbassador helps direct to consumer and retail companies with influencer marketing using end-to-end automated workflows.

  • Five people wearing white "Smart Wiz" shirts and dark pants stand side-by-side in front of a green living wall.

    Tevin Harrell, Bre Johnson, Jordan Ward, Justin Robinson, Olumuyiwa Aladebumoye

    SmartWiz (Birmingham, Alabama)

    SmartWiz is an IRS-approved tax professional software & digital accounting firm that optimizes accounting, tax management, legal, and consulting services.

  • Seven people stand looking at the camera on a balcony, looking at the camera.

    Rebecca Clyde and Chris Maeda

    Botco.ai (Scottsdale, Arizona)

    Botco.ai uses generative AI to deliver a personalized and highly accurate conversational experience for enterprises, starting with healthcare.

  • Two women wearing blue and black stand side by side, leaning against a glass railing. Behind them is a large building and cityscape.

    Erika Hairston and Arnelle Ansong

    Edlyft (San Francisco, California)

    Edlyft builds software that companies use to train technical students and early engineers on skills they need to be productive.

  • Four men— two wearing white t-shirts and two wearing jackets— look at the camera as they stand in front of a bookshelf.

    Demetrius (DJ) Eidson and Harrison Wilson

    Limitless Minds (Louisville, Kentucky)

    Limitless Minds brings together world-class coaches, behavioral science, and technology to make mindset training more effective and accessible.

  • A woman wearing a striped shirt with dark hair looks at the camera, with one hand against her ear.

    Adriana Cisneros Basulto

    Maxwell (Omaha, Nebraska)

    Maxwell helps employers retain employees through lifestyle-benefits accounts.

  • A man in a black shirt and pants stands beside a man in a white polo shirt, with a highway behind them.

    Christian Torres and Alfonso Villalba

    Kriptos (Miami, Florida)

    Kriptos uses AI to help businesses improve their cybersecurity, risk, and compliance strategies.

  • A woman with short dark hair smiles at the camera, wearing a bright blue shirt and a gray blazer.

    Tina C. Williams-Koroma

    CyDeploy (Baltimore, Maryland)

    CyDeploy provides an intelligent, automated approach to functional testing, enabling proper and timely security configurations and patches.

  • Two men wearing black shirts sit on either side of a woman wearing a tan blazer on a dark couch, with brightly-colored wallpaper behind them.

    Zara Perumal, Arjun Bisen and Tad Mielnicki

    Overwatch Data (New York, New York)

    Overwatch Data is a cybersecurity startup that helps enterprises monitor data streams for real-world events that impact their businesses.

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