Google to invest US$75 million in coronavirus-hit small businesses
Google is teaming up with the European Investment Fund (EIF) and two other organizations in Latin America and Asia to provide US$75 million in funding to small- and medium-sized companies suffering from the impact of COVID-19.
The funds are part of a US$800 million initiative announced in March last year in response to the pandemic.
Google, a unit of Alphabet, said on Wednesday (17 February) that it would invest in two EIF funds, giving US$15 million in loan capital to 1,000 European small businesses and US$10 million in EIF’s venture capital fund backing 200 life sciences companies.
The EIF is part of the European Investment Bank group, the lending arm of the European Union.
In Latin America, Google will work with the Inter-American Development Bank to allocate US$8 million to small companies.
It has also set up a US$26 million loan fund with Kiva, an organization that crowdfunds loans, to help businesses in Africa, the Middle East, and Indonesia. Indian companies will get US$15 million.
