As one of the 60 beneficiaries, Brastorne is amongst the black-led startups that will participate in the Google programme for non-dilutive cash awards from the Startups Black Founders Fund.
Participants are either nominated by partner communities or a previous recipient. Selected founders receive up to $100,000 capital along with Google cloud credits, advert grants, and hands-on support to help their startup grow. Google started its Black Founders Fund in 2021 as a commitment to invest in Black entrepreneurs to fuel generational change.
This is because Google is uniquely positioned to provide capital and support to help founders grow their businesses, as well as create opportunities for founders to thrive and create a greater impact on their communities.
Brastorne co-founder, Naledi Magowe said Brastorne applied for the opportunity to join this cohort early this year, along with thousands of other eager startups in Africa and the world.
“We saw the programme as an opportunity to learn from the best in the world and obtain support to scale our solutions to new markets and carry out our mandate to bridge the digital gap for less fortunate Africans,” she said. Brastorne is a Botswana-founded company which is committed to connecting 760 million Africans who lack meaningful access to today's digital world.
The company is known for its mobile solutions – Mpotsa, mAgri, and Vuka chat which enables under-served users to build communities, connect, access timely information, and participate in a mobile marketplace “We connect unconnected rural mobile users with our solutions and work in partnership with organisations such as Orange, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Draper Richard Kaplan Foundation, Stanford University (Stanford Seed Programme), Mercy Corps, and now Google,” said Magowe.
The company has also launched its flagship mAgri solution in the DRC in partnership with Orange DRC and Mercy Corps and has reached nearly two million users in Africa. This quarter the company will be implementing a commercial launch in Cameroon and Guinea. This year 60 startups were selected as beneficiaries of the Google for start-ups Black Founders Fund in Africa initiative.
Last year 50 black-led businesses across the continent were supported through the programme and have gone on to raise $73 million in the following funding, hired 518 staff members, and grown their revenue. Similar to other African startups, Brastorne has also faced challenges in accessing funding. “Getting funded is already difficult enough as an African founder and 10 times harder if you are a Botswana-founded startup.
The little funding available comes from the West (Europe and America) and is usually diverted to East Africa, West Africa, and South Africa. Botswana is often excluded and unrepresented. We have a very small and nascent startup ecosystem which hasn’t attracted a lot of investors, which is quite unfortunate. However, we are proud to raise the country’s flag and show that something remarkable and scalable can come from Botswana’s tech ecosystem,” Magowe said. Brastorne has previously received some accolades, it was selected as one of the Solvers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Solve 2021 Initiative and was the first local company to advance to the finalist stage. They also won the Hewlett Packard (HP) award in 2021 for advancing digital equity.
