Last year, we launched our Google for Startups Accelerator in Canada and welcomed 9 startups from different industries to learn and scale with Google mentors and tools. I can say without a doubt that this program was one of my proudest projects; in an extremely challenging year, the founders in our program showed no signs of slowing, and consistently brought a positive attitude and new ways to innovate to work every day. We saw our founders secure deals on Dragon's Den, earn Breakthrough Awards and receive media attention.
Our first cohort shared that the most valuable part of the program was the technical mentorship - at the close of the program, many of our startups said that the expertise offered by Google's experts was unparalleled, and that their technical projects jumped leaps and bounds within our program. Quebec cohort graduate ArkAngel AI shares their experience here. We also hosted a Demo Day where hundreds of viewers (including investors across North America!) tuned in to hear from our founders.
With this in mind, we plan to double our efforts in the Canadian startup community this year with additional accelerator programming. Our Voice AI Accelerator is the newest program to come to market for Canadian and US startups, and we have more to share in the coming months.
Today, applications open for our second cohort, and I am thrilled to invite the next cohort for our Accelerator to apply. The program will welcome 10-12 startups, and will kick off on April 19th.
We plan to work with Seed to Series A tech startups that are headquartered in Canada. Participating startups can expect detailed technical training and high-level strategic development opportunities with our machine learning, people, product and growth labs. Our cohort has access to Google's mentors and experts, and is eligible to join the global alumni network for events, connections with global peers, and more.
If you think your startup is a good fit, we welcome you to apply, and can't wait to hear from you.
Posted by Ashley Francisco, Head of Startup Developer Ecosystem, Canada