Launch of the new Google for Startups Growth Academy: AI for Cybersecurity program for companies based in Europe and the U.S.
Applications now open for the Google for Startups Growth Academy for Cybersecurity, announced last fall in Madrid for European startups
During the pandemic, startups have proven to be key in driving the economic recovery of many countries. Entrepreneurs have taken on many challenges using one of their primary qualities: adapting to change.
Because of COVID-19, our Google for Startups Campus in Madrid closed its doors. But our team found new and creative ways to keep close to founders. With a focus on the sectors most affected by the pandemic, and also those that were on the rise and generating economic recovery, we launched Google for Startups Growth Academies to support almost 20 projects related to e-commerce, tourism, well-being and digital transformation.
Two years later, Google for Startups Campus in Madrid is reopening, with the objective of fostering entrepreneurial talent, and focusing on diversity and inclusion.
Campus Madrid returns with a new look, where the Google for Startups community and its partners will be center stage. The spaces that were wide open to the general public before the pandemic are now available exclusively to alumni startups that have completed one of our in-depth training programs. The rapid growth of the entrepreneurial community in Madrid, with almost 100 startups in its network, has created the need to prioritize space for them so that they can continue their growth with greater access to the resources and space they need to get to the next level.
Campus Madrid will have more Googlers on-site, with some of our product experts moving their offices there to work closer to the entrepreneurs and offer personalized mentoring and training. There will also be ongoing training events and access to customized mentoring on Google products such as Google Cloud or Google Ads; these Startup School sessions, facilitated by PUE, will be open to a wider community beyond the resident startups.
The first program that Google for Startups will launch in person at Campus Madrid aims to promote female leadership: Women Founders Academy, a three-month program in which selected women will receive support to boost their leadership through mentoring, networking and targeted training. 11 women founders have been already selected for this program, that will kick off on March 21st.
Thanks to support from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, and its Social Innovation Fund, which supports social enterprises and entrepreneurs across Europe, €2.5 million will go towards organisations working to strengthen the social innovation community in Spain. As part of this fund, Google.org will provide a grant to Ashoka to make social entrepreneurship more inclusive, diverse and accessible in Spain. The project will support the creation of three social innovation labs to tackle territorial, socio-economic, gender and generational gaps in the social entrepreneurship world. In addition, Google.org is supporting INCO, an international nonprofit to offer access to capital, incubation and mentorship support to social entrepreneurs from disadvantaged communities in Spain.
Google for Startups Campus in Madrid is coming back stronger than ever. We hope these new initiatives will bring about much-needed change and support the efforts of a network of talented, committed and diverse people who are fostering economic recovery in Spain.
The pandemic accelerated a global movement towards digital health and wellbeing services, and startups across Europe are using technology to solve some of the biggest challenges in this space. This trend is reflected in how investors view this sector: since 2016, the combined value of healthtech startups in Europe increased from €6.8 billion to €35 billion and in 2020 the sector saw a €644m increase in funding.
As more entrepreneurs address the growing need for more accessible healthcare with their technology, we announced a special health and wellbeing-focused edition of Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe earlier this year.
Alike Health (Israel): A healthcare solution that taps into the power of medical records by utilizing proprietary AI, crowdsourcing, and big data.
BIOTTS (Poland): A company developing proprietary drug delivery technologies and formulas in the fields of diabetology, oncology, and dermatology.
Braive (Norway): A psychotherapy platform that gives people access to tools to help tackle life’s challenges.
Cuideo (Spain): A home care solution for the elderly, using an advanced matching algorithm to bring together caregivers and users.
dermanostic: (Germany): An online dermatology practice where patients can be treated digitally and receive prescriptions via an app.
goodsleeper (Poland): A digital self-help solution to treating chronic insomnia, based on scientifically-proven and drug-free methods.
Happy Bob (Finland): A personal digital health assistant that reduces the stress of diabetes data overload and helps achieve better glycemic control.
Hyperhuman (Romania): An AI-powered platform that helps you transform your video workouts into reusable fitness content.
LactApp (Spain): A mobile app that gives new mothers customized expert answers to breastfeeding and maternity questions, powered by AI technology.
MedApp (Poland): A startup developing technologies to support diagnostic imaging and next-gen digital medicine, specializing in AI, 3D imaging, and big data analysis.
MESI Medical (Slovenia): A diagnostics company developing medical devices and providing clinicians with tools for predictive medical assessment.
Mindly (Ukraine): An online marketplace for mental health specialists and their clients. Using tech and AI, they are making psychology accessible to everyone.
myAGE.health (Czech Republic): A functional age monitoring system that measures the rate of aging and provides effective lifestyle recommendations to improve patients’ health.
Nye Health (United Kingdom): A patient-facing app making it simpler for people to manage their medical data and improve their health.
Regimen (Germany): A digital program for erectile dysfunction, fighting the stigma around men’s intimate health.
Google for Startups Accelerator is designed to bring the best of Google's products, people, and technology to startups. In addition to mentorship and technical project support, the program also includes workshops focused on product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development for founders.
It’s important for startups to have specific goals for the program, so we talked to founders about the biggest challenges they hope to tackle with Google support.
MedApp wants to expand internationally. Krzysztof Mędrala, MedApp’s CEO, hopes that mentorship will help support in “scaling the business to other countries and optimizing the development process, covering all activities related to its introduction to the market such as marketing and communication with new business partners, investors and key opinion leaders.”
Krzysztof Mędrala, MedApp’s CEO
BIOTT’s team
Dimitri Podoliev, founder and CEO of Mindly
Henrik Haaland Jahren and Hermine Bonde Jahren, founders of Braive
The program will run until December 9. Ready to solve the world’s biggest challenges with technology? Explore other programs and resources designed to help entrepreneurs, like you, start, build, and grow the companies that will change the world.
2020 was a difficult year for the travel and tourism sector, but it was also a year of learning how to use technology to better understand and respond to the evolving needs of consumers.
Our Google for Startups Growth Academy: TravelTech program in Spain, where the travel industry accounts for 12% of the national GDP, supported travel startups with digital skills and tools to build resilience for their businesses, so they can overcome challenges brought by travel restrictions. It also shows them how to use data to adapt their product offerings to match the changing needs of travelers. The program included sessions with Google mentors and travel industry experts; 90% of these startups reporting revenue growth and an increase in recruiting, and expanding their business to new international markets.
Here are four lessons 12 travel and tourism startups learned from the program.
If there is one thing that defines a startup, it is the ability to adapt, and to adapt fast. Andrea Cayon, co-founder of Passporter, appreciated learning from other startup founders and Google analysts on how to analyze changes in travel demand and respond to travelers’ new preferences, like outdoor and nature destinations. Passporter helps people improve their travel experiences by sharing socially curated itineraries and trip recommendations. For Andrea, having access to a startup founder community that fosters knowledge and experience sharing is key to growing her business.
This level of networking and knowledge-sharing with other entrepreneurs didn’t exist two decades ago when Destinia, another travel startup participating in the program, was founded. "There were no doors to knock on, no one to ask for advice,” says Destinia's co-founder, Amuda Goueli. “You could waste a whole year if you chose the wrong route." That’s why, for Goueli, being part of a community like Google for Startups helps her find and test new ideas on how to grow her business.
Triporate team at Google for Startups Campus, 2018
Doinn team working at Campus Madrid, February 2020.
During the pandemic, technology became a lifeline to help businesses and people stay connected. Using data analysis tools for businesses like Analytics, Firebase, TagManager and Google Search Console help travel insurance Mondo get actionable information on what's going on in the business and data related to travel flows, restrictions and user demands. Thanks to that new data, they've grown 63% in international markets after the lockdown.
Triporate uses AI to provide their users a complete customer experience. This technology can analyze, by its own, the users demands and respond to them in a very accurate way. To develop this software, Triporate has used Google’s tool TensorFlow. Passporter also uses AI to show their clients photos of destinations and trips they are interested in. They can impact the users in this way thanks to Google Vision tool. Transparent focuses most of the technology they use in data analytics. That’s why they work with Google Data Studio, to provide their clients (normally institutions and governments) with important insights about travel flows in their action area.
At Google for Startups, we continue to promote entrepreneurial talent because we believe that startups are key to foster economic growth. The travel industry was disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and yet used digital tools to build resilience and adaptability so they can come back stronger.
