3 Nigerian start-ups included in Google’s third launchpad accelerator

Three Nigerian start-ups have been named among 12 across Africa as Google announced the third class of its launchpad accelerator Africa programme. Described as part of its ongoing efforts to support entrepreneurship on the continent, this third class, according to a statement by Google, starts on April 1, 2019, involving startups from six African countries; Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.

The startups, in alphabetical order, are:

1. 54Gene (Nigeria): Improves drug discovery by researching multiple genetically diverse African populations.
2. Data Integrated Limited (Kenya): Automates and digitises SME payments, connecting the street to high finance.
3. Instadiet.me (Egypt): Connects patients to credible nutritionists and dietitians online to help them maintain a healthy and optimal weight.
4. Kwara (Kenya): Provides a rich digital banking platform to established fair lenders such as credit unions or savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs), with an open API to enable and accelerate their inclusion into the formal financial ecosystem.
5. OkHi (Kenya): A physical addressing platform for emerging markets that is on a mission to enable the 4 billion without a physical address to “be included”.
6. PAPS (Senegal): A logistics startup with a strong client-care orientation, focused on last mile delivery in the domestic market that features live tracking, an intelligent address system and automatic dispatch.
7. ScholarX (Nigeria): An education startup that connects high potential students with funding opportunities to help them advance in their studies.
8. Tambua Health Inc. (Kenya): The Tambua App turns a normal smartphone into a powerful, non-invasive diagnostic tool for Tuberculosis and Pneumonia. It uses a cough sound acoustic signature, symptoms, risk factors and clinical information to come up with a diagnostic report.
9. Voyc.ai (South Africa): Voyc.ai’s CX Research Platform helps companies understand their customers by turning their customer research into insights, personas and customer journey maps.
10. WellaHealth (Nigeria): A pharmacy marketplace for affordable high quality disease-care (such as malaria treatment) driven by artificial intelligence.
11. Zelda Learning (South Africa): Provides free online career guidance for students looking to enter university and then links them to funding and study opportunities.
12. Swipe2pay(Uganda) – A web and mobile payments solution that democratizes electronic payments for SMEs by making it easy for them to accept mobile as a mode of payment.

“These companies will join other startups in the Launchpad programme, which are using technology to create a positive impact on key industries in their region,” said Fola Olatunji-David, Google’s head of Startup Success and Services, Launchpad Africa. “We look forward to supporting  and connecting them with startup ecosystems around the world.”

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The startups according to Google will each receive:

• 3 months intense mentorship and support from Google
• Cloud and Firebase Credits
• Three weeks all-expense-paid training at Launchpad Accelerator Africa (Lagos and Nairobi)
• Access to Google engineers, resources, and mentors, during and after the programme
• Inclusion in the Launchpad Accelerator Global Community and network of alumni and mentors

Google’s global accelerator programme, Launchpad Accelerator, has already enrolled seven African startups (Twiga Foods, JUMO, Paystack, Delivery Science, Helium Health, Paylater and Aerobotics) and provided them with visibility, best-in-class mentorship and access to Google’s network in Silicon Valley.