Like most entrepreneurs, Bruno Mendes Da Silva’s path into business was winding. While studying in China, the air pollution he experienced in Shanghai led to the idea for his first startup: an electric vehicle rental company that he would go on to launch back in Paris. But local resistance to electric vehicles in his hometown pushed him onwards to San Francisco, where he became versed in the self-driving vehicle revolution. It quickly became clear to him that the future of cars and mobility was not just electric, but autonomous.
Spotting a gap in a burgeoning market, this time when he returned to France he started a company called Heex that creates software solutions for self-driving vehicle engineers, helping them fast-track to autonomy with the aim of deploying vehicles at scale. Instead of “big data”, Da Silva’s second venture focuses on “smart data”. “It was not a service company like the first one,” explains Da Silva. “It was a tech company.”
Heex was one of the 30 startups which went on to claim a slice of Google for Startups’ $2m Black Founders Fund in Europe, unlocking up to $100,00 in capital, up to an additional $200,000 in Google Cloud credits, and access to the best of Google resources people, products, and best practices. As soon as he came across the Black Founders Fund, Da Silva recognized the impact it could have. “I felt that under- represented founders were not treated equally to other founders, because people like to [invest in] those who look like themselves,” he says.
Unfortunately, Da Silva was right: the data shows that Black founders are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing investment. Take the UK as an example: in 2020, less than 0.25 percent of venture capital (VC) funding went to Black-led startups, and only 38 Black founders received venture capital funding in the last 10 years.
This stifles the potential of Black entrepreneurs, and prevents innovative ideas from being transformed into thriving, potentially world-changing businesses.
Besides crucial funding, Heex received access to Google support and resources, including Google Cloud infrastructure and Google Ads. The support provided by Google for Startups was overwhelming: “It was beyond what we expected, because they were offering us workshops with specialists from different fields every week,” says Da Silva. An additional incentive to partner with Google for Startups was, for Da Silva, that Google subsidiary Waymo is a leading autonomous driving company.
Like Heex, London-based startup Modularity Grid is focused on tackling a pressing, current day issue. Founded by Elizabeth Nyeko, its AI software tackles the complexities of deploying and managing fleets of microgrids, to bring down energy costs and emissions for homes, businesses and EV charging infrastructure.
Modularity Grid has piloted technology that uses AI and machine learning to support mini-grid operators in monitoring and predicting energy consumption. Nyeko was part of the first cohort funded by the Black Founders Fund in Europe. “Perhaps even more useful than getting the money was the hands-on support from Google employees on everything from user interface design, user experience and software,” she says, “all the way through to the more practical things, such as supporting our recruitment efforts, and setting up the processes and systems to prepare us for growth.”
Da Silva and Nyeko are not outliers by any means. Contrary to the illusory “pipeline problem”, which posits that there are not enough qualified Black entrepreneurs in line to set up startups, across 2021 and 2022, Google for Startups received in excess of 1,500 applications from aspiring entrepreneurs keen to join in its current round of funding. In fact, the sheer number of applicants it received since launching the Fund prompted Google for Startups to double the allotted funding to $4 million in 2022.
Nyeko says that one particularly invaluable experience provided by the initiative was being able to connect with a vibrant community of Black European founders. Events and meetups where Fund recipients were able to network helped facilitate the free-flowing exchange of experiences and ideas among the entrepreneurs.
“As a founder, it can be quite a tough journey,” says Nyeko. “It always helps to be able to talk to other founders, share experiences, share tips—and even introductions to investors.” Black-led startups don’t just create value for themselves—they contribute to the wider startup ecosystem and economy. Since 2021, Google for Startups-backed startups have gone on to raise $81m in follow-on funding, added over 100 new employees to their teams.
Working with the UK’s National Farmers Union, Modularity Grid’s immediate goal is to help farmers use micro-grids to bring down their energy costs, reducing the likelihood of energy-price hikes being passed on to consumers. Next, the company is eyeing how to use micro-grids to boost electric-vehicle charging connectivity across the UK. Heex has plans to continue refining its product, and is looking to more than double its staff in the next 12 months.
By working to help underrepresented founders to succeed in business, Google for Startups doesn’t only create value for the Black startup community, but for Europe as a whole.
For more information about Google for Startups' offering, visit startup.google.com
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
