Technology

Google to invest $8 million in coronavirus-hit small businesses in Latin America

The funds are part of an $800 million initiative announced in March last year in response to the pandemic

Photo: REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
  • Besides Latin America, it also announced a partnership with the European Investment Fund (EIF) and one organization in Asia;
  • The funds are part of an $800 million initiative announced in March.

Google is teaming up with the Inter-American Development Bank in Latin America to allocate $8 million to small companies suffering from the impact of COVID-19.

Besides Latin America, it also announced a partnership with the European Investment Fund (EIF) and one organization in Asia to provide $75 million in funding to small- and medium-sized companies.

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The funds are part of an $800 million initiative announced in March last year in response to the pandemic.

Google, a unit of Alphabet, said on Wednesday that it would invest in two EIF funds, giving $15 million in loan capital to 1,000 European small businesses and $10 million in EIF’s venture capital fund backing 200 life sciences companies.

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The EIF is part of the European Investment Bank group, the lending arm of the European Union.

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It has also set up a $26 million loan fund with Kiva, an organisation that crowdfunds loans, to help businesses in Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia. Indian companies will get $15 million.

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