Google to Invest $75 Million in Coronavirus-Hit Small Businesses

Google is teaming up with the European Investment Fund (EIF) and two other organisations in Latin America and Asia to provide $75 million (roughly Rs. 545 crore) in funding to small- and medium-sized companies suffering from the impact of COVID-19.

The funds are part of an $800 million (roughly Rs. 5,820 crores) 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 (roughly Rs. 110 crores) in loan capital to 1,000 European small businesses and $10 million (roughly Rs. 73 crores) 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 $8 million (roughly Rs. 58 crores) to small companies.

It has also set up a $26 million (roughly Rs. 190 crores) 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 (roughly Rs. 110 crores).