Google Invests in Buzzbassador, Committing Capital & Strategic Support To Its Emerging Influencer Marketing Automation Platform

DALLAS, TX – JULY 13, 2023 – Buzzbassador, a platform that automates influencer marketing for growing consumer brands, has been selected by Google as one of 24 companies from around the nation to join the fourth annual Google for Startups Black Founders Fund program. This is yet another significant milestone of the Dallas-based company, led by co-founder and CEO, Calvin Waddy, which has made significant strides in the competitive influencer marketing platform landscape since its inception.

Since launching its beta in 2020, Buzzbassador has generated over $20 million in influencer-driven sales for its customers, which to date have been Shopify-powered D2C and retail brands. The platform, which is built to help growing businesses scale their influencer and creator marketing efforts autonomously, has already caught the attention of investors, having raised over $1M in pre-seed capital, including an investment from acclaimed pre-seed accelerator Techstars.

Further amplifying Buzzbassador’s growth trajectory is its selection for the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, which includes an award of $150,000 in non-dilutive capital and $100,000 worth of Google Cloud credits. This $250,000 in additional resources is set to catapult the company’s efforts in shaping the future of influencer marketing for small and medium enterprises.

"Buzzbassador's acceptance into Google for Startups' Black Founders Fund marks a pivotal milestone in our company's journey and growth trajectory," says Calvin Waddy, CEO and Co-Founder at Buzzbassador. "Google's investment and belief in our company is a testament to our team's hard work and dedication to our mission."

Waddy, alongside his co-founder and COO, Shelby Baldwin, has been instrumental in Buzzbassador’s rapid growth and the value they have created for their users, which are over 140,000-strong and span across the US and over 20 countries. This partnership with Google will allow their team to tap into Google’s vast ecosystem of advanced technologies and unparalleled expertise from its global network of talent. “Google’s support will not only catalyze our growth but also allow us to achieve unprecedented innovation in our industry, delivering a game-changing solution to our brands and creators,” continued Waddy.

“We are extremely proud to be supporting the work done by Buzzbassador with the 2023 Google for Startups Black Founders Fund”, said Google for Startups marketing lead Daniel Navarro. "Buzzbassador’s mission to provide the tools for scalable influencer programs for small businesses stood out amongst applicants and we are looking forward to helping them continue making an impact in the creator economy."

ABOUT BUZZBASSADOR

Buzzbassador is an influencer marketing automation platform that empowers direct-to-consumer and retail brands of all sizes and industries to successfully partner with social media content creators to drive sales. The platform delivers a streamlined solution that puts influencer marketing on auto-pilot, creating an easy way for growing businesses to recruit, manage, engage, track, and reward creators, but without the many hours of hassle that have traditionally been required to carry out this marketing strategy manually.

ABOUT GOOGLE FOR STARTUPS

Google for Startups works to level the playing field for startup founders and communities to succeed by bringing the best of Google’s products, connections, and best practices to startups. Paired with a deep commitment to create diverse startup communities, many of our offerings are designed specifically to provide underrepresented founders with access to resources and opportunities. We support startups everywhere to build something better. Because when startups succeed, we all succeed. To learn more, visit startup.google.com.