Google is trying to help small businesses around the world which have all been in jeopardy due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It has just put up an additional $75 million to help such businesses survive the Covid-19 crisis.
Small businesses have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, especially those in the entertainment industries. Restaurants, bars, clubs and theaters around the world remain shuttered dur to the Covid crisis. While large corporations have the resources to survive such an economic disaster, many small businesses are going under.
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Last year Google already implemented an $800 million initiative to help small businesses suffering from the Covid-19 shutdowns.
So when the pandemic hit last year, we announced a $200 million investment fund as part of our $800+ million commitment to support small businesses in the face of COVID-19.
To spread out the money Google will partner with two government-sponsored investment initiatives. In Europe, it will work with the European Investment Fund (EIF), an EU body supporting Europe’s small and medium-size businesses. Google will invest in two EIF funds: $15 million in loan capital that will support more than 1000 European small businesses and $10 million in EIF’s Life Sciences Fund, a venture capital fund that will help support approximately 200 life sciences companies, many of which are helping with the COVID-19 crisis. This Life Sciences Fund is also supported by the European Commission’s European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
In Latin America Google will work with the Inter-American Development Bank through its innovation lab. The company is allocating $8 million to increase the capital available in the region for small businesses. Two out of three workers in Latin America are employed by a small business, which makes their success one of the most essential elements for economic recovery in the region.
In addition, in the U.S. Google is working with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN). OFN has helped us provide over $90 million in low-interest loans from the Grow with Google Small Business Fund and Google.org grants to over thirty Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) across the country. CDFIs in turn finance hundreds of small businesses, like Gem City Market, a new grocery cooperative that secured funding from Finance Fund Capital Corporation (FCAP) to help them provide affordable, quality kitchen staples to the Dayton, Ohio, community.
