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Google receiving applications to the 2nd Launchpad Accelerator Africa

by Milicent Atieno
google Launchpad Accelerator Africa 2018

Google is currently receiving applications for its second leg of the Launchpad Accelerator Africa program. The search engine has extended the program to include an additional 12 countries in Africa.

In March, Innov8tiv reported the 12 startups picked by Google to participate in the first Launchpad Accelerator Africa program. Well, that first cohort of startups have since graduated from the program, and now Google is enrolling the next cohort.

For the second leg of the program, Google has included more African countries to make a total of 18 countries from across the continent. The first cohort only came from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda.

Algeria Botswana Cameroon Egypt Ethiopia Ghana
Ivory Coast Kenya Morocco Nigeria Rwanda Senegal
South Africa Tanzania Tunisia Uganda Zimbabwe  

 

According to Folagbade Olatunji-David, the head of startup success and services at Launchpad Accelerator for Google, in its initial three months, the program had connected the 12 selected startups to over 20 teams from Google, and 40 mentors from across Africa.

Each has received $10,000 in an equity-free cash grant, and between them, they have raised over $7 million. The startups have directly created 132 jobs and impacted 4.5 million users,” said Folagbade.

We are humbled to be part of the success stories of these 12 startups, and as individuals, we have learned great lessons from their dedication, focus, and drive. The companies will go on to be part of the global Launchpad Alumni network, joining over 100 companies from 40 countries across 5 continents.”

The Launchpad Accelerator Africa program will run for three months and will be operating from Lagos, Nigeria. The program seeks to provide African startups with over $3 million equity-free funding over the next three years. In addition to the funding, the startups will also get free access to a working space, access to expert advisers from across Africa, the Silicon Valley, and Google itself.

The current application window is set to close in July 8th, 2018. Interested startups are encouraged to apply now. Criteria for eligibility includeL

The startups must be running out of a country within sub-Sahara Africa

The products must be targeting the African market

The startups must have previously raised some seed funding

Google will also analyze the problem the startup’s products is tackling and the value it has to the users.

How does the startup address the challenges being faced in its home city, country, and the continent at large?

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