Google Launchpad accelerator selects African startups.
Google has announced the startups from Nigeria and South Africa, which have been selected to take part in the fifth class of the Google Launchpad accelerator, a six-month, equity-free mentorship programme.
Google, who announced in February 2017 that it was bringing the Launchpad Accelerator to Africa, aims to assist startups in Africa by leveraging Google’s latest technologies to scale their businesses through mentoring. The programme has impacted startups from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Uganda.
Three startups from Africa will join others from across the world to take part in the latest class. The African startups selected consist of two Nigerian companies and one South African company. The Nigerian startups selected were electronic medical records startup Helium Health, and fintech startup Paylater.
South African startup Aerobotics, which helps farmers optimise their yields and reduce their costs through its aerial data analytics platform, was also selected, alongside startups from countries such as Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
“This includes a diverse group of startups from all over the world looking to tackle everything from streamlining medical records in Africa to improving breast cancer screenings,” said Roy Glasberg, global lead for the Google Developers Launchpad.
As a part of the programme, startups will participate in an intensive two-week bootcamp in San Francisco and they will receive mentoring from over 30 teams across Google and expert mentors from top technology companies and VCs in Silicon Valley and globally.
Class 5 kicks off on January 29, 2018 at the Google Developers Launchpad Space in San Francisco where participants will receive equity-free support, credits for Google products and media training, and to work closely with Google back in their home country.
By Dean Workman
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