Google CEO Sundar Pichai pledges $175 million to help black entrepreneurs

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced to give over $175 million toward supporting Black business owners, startup founders, job seekers and developers. The new funds are in addition to YouTube`s $100 million fund to amplify Black creators and artists.

"Beyond our products, we know that racial equity is inextricably linked to economic opportunity," Pichai said in a statement late Wednesday.

The new funds include $50 million in financing and grants for small businesses, focused on the Black community, $100 million in funding participation in Black-led capital firms, startups and organizations supporting Black entrepreneurs, $15 million in training and $10 million+ to help improve the Black community`s access to education, equipment and economic opportunities in its developer ecosystem.

See Zee Business Live TV streaming below:

"This commitment builds on our recent $125 million Grow with Google Small Business Fund that is helping underserved minority and women-owned small businesses across the US," informed Pichai.

Pichai said the Google is working to improve Black+ representation at senior levels and committing to a goal to improve leadership representation of underrepresented groups by 30 per cent by 2025.

The company is establishing a new talent liaison within each product and functional area to mentor and advocate for the progression and retention of Googlers from underrepresented groups.

"We`re working to create a stronger sense of inclusion and belonging for Googlers in general and our Black+ community in particular," said Pichai.

The company said it will also establish a range of anti-racism educational programmes that are global in view and able to scale to all Googlers.

"We plan to roll out this training globally by early next year. We`ll also integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into our mandatory manager trainings," informed Pichai.

He also launched Google for Startups Accelerator for Black Founders, a three-month digital accelerator programme for high potential Seed to Series A startups.

"We`re also committing nearly $3 million to help close the racial equity gaps in computer science education and increase Black+ representation in STEM fields," said Pichai.