The 12 Startups picked to participate in first African Google Launchpad Accelerator

Search engine giant Google has brought its acceleration program to African startups dubbed the African Google Launchpad Accelerator. Applications and vetting of the startups have been running for a while since late last year, and the top 12 most promising startups have been identified and will be taken through the acceleration program.

The inaugural program will take place in Lagos, Nigeria and here is a list of the 12 startups that will be participating:

The African Google Launchpad Accelerator program will run for three months in Lagos. Google says, over the next three years, it aims at assisting promising African startups through this acceleration program; which will run out of Lagos. The search engine has pledged $3 million equity-free funding to the startups, in addition to free access to top-notch working space and access to expert advisers from Africa, the Silicon Valley, and within Google itself.

“We are thrilled to announce this, the first Launchpad Accelerator for Africa class, and look forward to working with them to drive innovation into the African market,” said Andy Volk, the sub-Saharan Africa ecosystem regional manager at Google.

“Africa is home to some incredibly smart people who are working to solve the continent’s problems using homegrown solutions, and we’re honored to be able to be part of that.”

Other Google goodies for Africa

Google has also partnered with Udacity and Andela to give 15,000 single course and 500 nano degree scholarships to aspiring developers in Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya.