Google Welcomes 15 African AI Startups to Accelerator Africa Class 9
The Google for Startup Accelerator, a three-month program created to assist early-stage entrepreneurs utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle Africa’s most critical issues, has chosen 15 African AI-focused tech firms.
The Google for Startups Accelerator Africa program was launched in 2018 and has since helped 140 startups from over 17 African nations. Fifteen firms have been chosen from the ninth program, which was open to seed to Series A African startups developing AI-first solutions.
The members of the Class 9 cohort of the Google for Startups Accelerator: Africa are:
- AFRIKABAL (Rwanda): A blockchain and AI-powered platform helping farmers, buyers, and logistics firms trade crops securely and transparently.
- Apexloads (Kenya): A logistics SaaS platform helping African freight brokers, forwarders, and transporters move cargo faster with verified partners.
- E-doc Online (Nigeria): Simplifies compliance and credit checks by analyzing real-time banking data, enabling faster onboarding and smarter lending decisions.
- GoNomad (Nigeria): Enables businesses to start and run global entities, and solopreneurs to professionally invoice and get paid globally like a local.
- Midddleman (Nigeria): An intelligent sourcing and payment platform helping African businesses import and pay for goods from China faster, safer, and cheaper.
- Myltura (Nigeria): An AI-powered digital health platform enabling remote care, test access, and seamless health data management in Africa.
- Pastel (Nigeria): Offers Enterprise AI solutions, inc. AI based fraud detection and anti-money laundering solutions to financial institutions in Africa.
- Rapid Human AI (South Africa): An end-to-end AI design-thinking platform that turns ideas into code in days, cutting development time by 80%.
- Regulon (Ghana): An AI-powered compliance and onboarding platform designed to simplify regulatory processes for businesses across Africa and the EMEA region.
- Scandium (Nigeria): An AI Quality Assurance suite that helps teams ship bug-free software faster with end-to-end test automation and test ops tooling.
- Shamba Records (Kenya): An AI-powered platform that empowers 50,000+ African farmers with smart credit, market access, and climate-resilient, data-driven agriculture.
- Smartel Agri Tech (Rwanda): Helps smallholder farmers in the Global South get ahead of crop pests and diseases early using AI-powered, solar-driven devices and SMS alerts.
- TOLBI (Senegal): Leverages AI and satellite imagery to empower sustainable agriculture across Africa, providing precise crop yield forecasts.
- YeneHealth (Ethiopia): An AI-driven digital health web, and mobile app streamlining access to affordable, reliable, quality medications & health care services.
- Zerone Analytiqs (Ghana): A transformative two-pronged solution to the data scarcity in Africa, We are revolutionizing how data is sourced, analyzed, and utilized for decisions.
The selection comes after a fiercely competitive application process that attracted around 1,500 applications from all over the continent and started in April. This group demonstrates Google’s strong dedication to promoting Africa’s thriving tech sector and aiding new businesses in their expansion.
According to Folarin Aiyegbusi, head of Google’s startup ecosystem for Africa, “African startups are at the forefront of solving critical challenges across the continent, and their work with AI is truly transformative.” This program demonstrates our conviction that, when developed by those who have a thorough understanding of the situation, AI has the potential to be revolutionary. Supporting these founders who are creating for impact and assisting in the development of an inclusive AI ecosystem throughout Africa excites us much.
The chosen firms will take part in a hybrid accelerator program over the course of the following three months. In addition to up to US$350,000 in Google Cloud credits and strategic assistance with AI adoption, product leadership, and company expansion, participants will receive committed technical mentoring from seasoned Google engineers and industry professionals. Additionally, they will have access to a worldwide network of partners, investors, and collaborators, which will increase their influence and reach.
