Wednesday , March 29 2023

The second class of the Launchpad Africa group raised 12 million dollars, created 253 jobs



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The 11 companies in the second-class Launchpad Africa accelerator from Google created 253 jobs and raised over $ 12 million before and during the program, says Folagji Olatunji-David, head of startup and accelerator services.

In addition, the 33 founders of the six countries that made the program participants also raised $ 110,000 in free funding from Google.

In a statement released on Friday (November 9th) when he graduated from the second launch class from Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa, Olatunji-David said during the three-month program, the 11 companies that include Launchpad Accelerator Africa Class 2, mentors from nine countries.

The nine countries were Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the US.

Launchpad Accelerator Africa was announced in July last year and will last until 2020 with two entries of 10-12 starts per year, representing a $ 3 million investment in capital-free support, work space and access to counselors experts from Google, Silicon Valley and Africa in the three years.

Participants also receive travel and PR assistance during each three-month program.

The 11 companies in the second-class Google Launchpad Africa accelerator created 253 jobs and raised over $ 12 million before and during the program

Google has also hosted 13 Launchpad Build and Start events in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa since April 2016 with a total of 228 speakers and the involvement of 590 local startup participants in each country.

It also runs programs such as Google Developer Groups and Women Techmakers, providing training and support to developers, aligned with real-life professional competence requirements.

Community groups engage in activities such as study groups for developers called Study Blocks. There are approximately 140 communities in 25 Sub-Saharan African countries. Some of these groups hosted 81 study blocks in 10 countries, reaching over 5,000 developers in the past year.

Commenting on Friday's statement, Olatunji-David said the growth of entrepreneurship in Africa is essential to the survival of the continent. "Google believes that empowering new entrepreneurs and businesses is key to boosting employment growth and enabling economic and social development across the continent," she said.

11 companies in class 2

The 11 companies in six countries that formed Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa Class 2 were:

AppZone (Nigeria): AppZone builds software as a service (SaaS), fintech software software for digital banks, enabling them to reduce operational costs, while improving service delivery.

Table Education (Ghana): Allows educational institutions to make their programs available via mobile devices (USSD, SMS and the Internet). It also allows these institutes to gather knowledge about student learning patterns and helps them to create and adapt mobile space curricula.

Cloud9xp (Kenya): Cloud9xp is an online booking and booking service that allows people to buy and sell experiences in locations across Africa and the Middle East.

EzyAgric (Uganda): an on-demand platform that provides open and affordable access to finance, production and marketing services for farmers and agribusinesses in Uganda. It does this through a network of youth agents equipped with smart phones and other forms of agricultural technology, offering jobs and helping farmers improve yields and market access in one step.

Formplus (Nigeria): enables companies to collect data online and offline by using customizable digital forms. Startup also offers formal answers based on responses and allows payouts through PayPal, Stripe, and Flutterwave.

Medsaf (Nigeria): Medsaf is a one-stop market, clean medication for African hospitals and pharmacies.

Mint (Egypt): This video social information platform helps brands and agencies understand how they interact with social videos, giving them insight into what is and does not work, and maximizing ROI.

PayGo Energy (Kenya): The smart meter and PayGo software allow gamers in the LPL (GPL) value chain to better serve their customers, leading to the adoption of clean cooking fuels.

Pineapple (South Africa): The unique pineapple learning technology allows users to easily assure individual elements using only a mobile application.

Preeva (South Africa): an online platform linking students with young educators offering extra help at school and university.

Thank U Cash (Nigeria): Thank U Cash is an online rewarding platform that allows consumers to save and earn exchangeable loyalty points and merchants to benefit from extra expenses.

Apply for the next class

The next class will open in 2019.

Startup in 17 countries across the continent, including Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. program.

To be eligible, start-ups need to be technology-driven, based in sub-Saharan Africa, targeting the African market and increasing seed funding.

Google also considers the problem that each start attempts to solve, how it creates value for users, and how it addresses to a great extent the real challenge for its home, country, or city.

Interested organizations can see when apps are open at: https://developers.google.com/startups/regional/

Read more: SA startups Pineapples, Preeva gains place in Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa
Read more: Google today unveils the names of the cohorts of the Accelerator Africa launcher
Read more: Google opens Launchpad Africa second class applications
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Read more: Lagos is the perfect background for startup says Google Launchpad Accelerator man

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