Google for Startups Black Founders Fund gives $100K to Newark’s MindRight Health

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MindRight Health was selected on Tuesday by Google for Startups to receive $100,000.

The funds are equity-free and will offer direct assistance for the Newark-based company to pay staff, fund inventory and maintain software licenses.

In all, Google awarded 76 recipients from its $5 million Black Founders Fund, an effort that provides promising African American startup founders from across the country with non-dilutive cash awards to fuel their businesses.

In line with Google for Startups’ mission, founders will also receive the best of Google’s technical resources, people and practices through future Google for Startups programming.

MindRight’s founder, Ashley Edwards, was surprised with the award during what she believed was a final interview. Original consideration was based on Edwards’ application, MindRight’s size, as well as readiness for funding.

MindRight Health was founded by Edwards in 2019 and focuses on mental health coaching and support for teenagers of color and low-income families. The company’s services digitally connect young people with mental support professionals – usually via text – and often focus on cultural and racial-related issues including prejudice, Black feminism, white supremacy and identity self-love.

Unlike crisis response teams, MindRight’s professionals reach out to users proactively every day, and in many cases partner with youth groups and schools for wholesale stress/trauma support help.

To qualify for funding, companies had to have participated in past Google for Startups programming or be nominated by a Google for Startups partner organization. Google only considered companies with less than $3 million in total funding and weighed other variables like demonstrable funding need.

“We are committed to helping Black founders who have been deeply impacted by COVID-19 and who are disproportionately locked out of access to the funding they need to succeed,” said Jewel Burks Solomon, head of Google for Startups US, in a prepared statement. “By combining cash awards with Google for Startups mentorship and programming, we hope to help create a more level playing field for these founders, who are building amazing companies and making an impact on their communities.”

The Fund was announced in June as part of Google’s company-wide racial equality commitments.