Google for Startups Accelerator Africa on Tuesday said that Class 5 of the accelerator would take place online with Nigeria recording eight startups from 20 startups from other African countries.
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Mr Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communication Officer Google, West Africa, explained that Google for Startups Accelerator Africa Class 5 would take place online as one combined class of 20 startups.
He said it would commence the online class on June 29 and run through three months, to end on Sept.11.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Google for Startups Accelerator Africa was previously called Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa committed to training 60 African startups over three years.
The training represents over $3 million in equity-free support working space, with access to expert advisers from Google, Silicon Valley and Africa.
Participants would also receive travel and Public Relations (PR) support during the three months.
Kola-Ogunlade said that rather than the two classes per year held previously, the pool of selected 20 startups would hold once.
He said that the selected pool for Google Startups Accelerator Africa 2020 were from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
Açcording to him, the startups cut across an array of industries including logistics, transportation, education, agriculture, e-commerce, media, health and professional services.
‘’The 20 selected startups are, Adi+Bolga, Ghana, AmiTruck, Kenya, Beamm, South Africa, BuuPass, Kenya, Crediation, Kenya, Credpal, Nigeria, Crop2Cash, Nigeria, Curacel, Nigeria, Festival Coins, Nigeria and Franc.app, South Africa.
‘’Others are, IIara Health, Kenya, Judy, Nigeria, Kaoun, Tunisia, Send, Nigeria, Stears, Nigeria, The Smarthub, Nigeria, Thumeza, Zimbabwe, Uzapoint, Kenya, Zayride, Ethiopia and Zuka Data Science, Kenya
‘’Adi+Bolga uses its technology to provide virtual skincare consultations and accurate personalised product recommendations to consumers,’’ Kola-Ogunlade said in a statement.
Açcording to him, Amitruck is a digital platform that seeks to bring trust, transparency and efficiency to logistics by using technology to connect cargo owners and transporters.
He said Beamm allowed users to make Hollywood style CGI and VFX videos with ease while BuuPass worked with transport operators to provide digital solutions that seamlessly facilitated convenient and reliable movement of commuters.
Kola-Ogunlade said that Crediation empowered tech startups to lend to their customers, adding that it provided APIs and a dashboard to allow its partners access funds for lending and process loans.
The communication officer said that CredPal developed consumer credit infrastructure to ease consumer credit purchases and enabled retail businesses to provide on-demand credit for consumers in Africa.
He said that Crop2Cash is an offline accessible platform for farmers making it possible for them to pay, get paid and access agricultural credit via USSD while assuring financial institutions of their lending capital.
Açcording to him, Curacel is a Claims and Fraud Detection Platform for African insurers while Festival Coins is a suite of tools to help event organisers produce better events, with features including online ticketing, access control, cashless payments and event reporting.
Franc.app is an investment app that helps first-time investors realise their dreams by providing access to the best cash and equity funds without minimums or restrictions.
Kola-Ogunlade said since its launch in 2018, the Google for Startups Accelerator programme has worked with 47 startups from 17 African countries.
He noted that Google had contributed to economic prosperity and empowerment by collectively raising millions of technology investments and creating hundreds of jobs.