Tag Archives: founders

Announcing our second Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders cohort

Posted by Jason Scott, Head of Startup Developer Ecosystem, USA

Head shots of 2 people. One male and one female

Last year, 12 inspiring entrepreneurs kicked off the inaugural Google for Startups Accelerator for Black Founders. Throughout the three month program, founders met weekly to work on growing their startups and solving tough technical challenges. “There’s so much happening every single day as a startup,” says Ashley Edwards, founder of MindRight Health, whose startup is making mental healthcare accessible to people of color and low-income families. “The program helped us navigate everything from protecting our team from distractions to building out our machine learning and data science models.”

This August, we’ll launch the second Google for Startups Accelerator for Black Founders with 11 more incredible Black-led startups from across North America. This class features startups using technology to solve challenges in medicine, education, water sustainability, real estate, and more:

GIF of Black Founders class

Acclinate (Birmingham, Alabama, USA): A digital health startup using culture and tech to source diverse participants for clinical trials.

Adapdix (Pleasanton, California, USA): An AI/ML startup that works with large industrial semiconductor, electronic and assembly companies.

AllHere Education (Boston, Massachusetts, USA): Fosters student attendance and supports families and students with mobile messaging powered by AI.

Chatdesk (New York, New York, USA): Uses machine learning to scale support teams with the click of a button.

DOSS (Houston, Texas, USA): A digital, voice-activated real estate marketplace that empowers consumers to speak, text or type questions about properties nationwide and receive accurate, easy answers instantly.

Fêtefully (Dallas, Texas, USA): Digitizes wedding planning experiences, allowing planners to generate greater revenue and improve their offerings to customers.

Mommy Monitor (Toronto Ontario, Canada): A maternal care services platform that provides an easily accessible and culturally safe range of services that gives parents extra support customized to their particular needs and wants.

Optimal Technical Corporation (Atlanta, Georgia, USA): Intelligently eliminates electricity waste, lowers operational expenses, and helps to save the planet.

Sugar (Los Angeles, California, USA): Provides software to building owners and managers to transform the residential experience.

Varuna (Chicago, Illinois, USA): The leading water distribution system monitoring company providing real-time visibility, awareness and insights to water systems enabling optimal operations and consumer safety.

Zirtue (Dallas, Texas, USA): The world's first relationship-based lending application that simplifies loans between friends, family and trusted relationships while giving borrowers the option to pay creditors directly using their borrowed funds.

We are incredibly excited to support this group of founders over the next three months and beyond, connecting them with the best of our people, products, and programming to advance their companies and solutions.

Be sure to join us as we showcase their accomplishments on Thursday, October 21 from 12:30pm - 2:00pm EST at our Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders Demo Day 2021.

Apply now for Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders

Posted by Ashley Francisco

Women Founders apply now header

The Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders program is now open for applications until July 19.

Last year, we launched the inaugural Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders program in North America to help women-led startups identify and solve technical challenges while scaling their companies. The inaugural cohort also received tailored programming to address some of the longstanding barriers that women founders face.

Women founders remain underrepresented in the tech startup ecosystem because they often lack access to the resources needed to start, build, and grow their businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these structural barriers by disproportionately impacting women in the workforce—and research shows women were more vulnerable to the economic effects of COVID-19 because of existing gender disparities.

For women founders, access to capital is one of the major challenges to launching their business. A recent report showed women-led startups received a mere 2.3% of global venture capitalist funding in 2020, falling from 2.8% the year before.

The Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders program aims to help bridge the gap and create opportunities for women founders to succeed. Beyond mentorship and technical project support, the accelerator also includes deep dives and workshops focused on product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development for founders. Participants will also hear from a roster of speakers and facilitators who deliver both technical and nontechnical programming for women-led startups.

Applications for the second Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders program are now open until July 19, for North American applicants. Approximately 10-12 startups with at least one woman founder will be selected from across North America. The accelerator runs from September through to December 2021.

To learn more about the program and to apply, visit the website.

Celebrating devs from Brazil on Black Consciousness Day

Posted by Patricia Correa - Director, Global Developer Marketing

Today is Black Consciousness Day in Brazil, a country where over 55% of the population identifies as Black. To celebrate, we are showcasing local developers who create apps, games and websites. Watch this video to hear about their journeys, tips and passions.

Meet the founders & developers

Vitor Eleotério, Software Engineer at iFood, a popular food delivery app in Brazil. As much as he liked technology, his colleagues used to mock and discourage him. Vitor heard many times that he would be a great security man as he is tall and strong. People kept saying that IT was only for rich people. With his passion and hard work, he proved them all wrong. Now, he wants to motivate others to also follow their dreams.

Priscila Aparecida Ferreira Theodoro, Software Engineer at Centauro, a large sports goods retailer in Brazil. Her first contact with technology happened while working at an organization that teaches programming. At 38 years old, Priscila decided to completely change careers and learn how to code. She now teaches programming to women, mentors youths, and is involved in a podcast project for women developers.

Marcos Pablo, Co-founder & CTO at G4IT Solutions, a platform that helps companies to manage and automate the work schedules of off-site teams. It was his mother who encouraged him to enter the tech world when he was in high school. By the time he was 19 years old, he was already managing a small tech company.

Iago Silva Dos Santos, Co-founder & CEO of Trazfavela Delivery, a platform for deliveries to and from favelas. He wanted to help his community, including drivers, retailers and people who wanted easier access to goods. TrazFavela is one of the first companies to receive investment from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund in Brazil.

Tiago Santos, Founder & CEO of Husky, an app for Brazilian professionals to receive international payments. As a software developer working with international clients, Tiago had experienced first hand how difficult it was to get payments from abroad. With his friend Mauricio Carvalho he created the app so professionals can focus on their careers instead of wasting time with bureaucratic tasks.

Ronaldo Valentino da Cruz, Co-founder & CEO of Oktagon, a games studio that produces indie titles and games for clients. He learned how to program when he was 14 and started working with game development in 2002 at the Universidade Federal Tecnológica do Paraná. So far, the company has launched well-received mid-core titles and worked with publishers and clients all over the world.

Nohoa Arcanjo Allgayer, Co-founder & CMO of Creators.LLC, a network that connects creative talent with potential clients. For Nohoa, it was not an easy decision to quit her previous comfortable corporate job to set up this startup. Now she is proud of the risk she took, as it opened up a world of opportunity and endless learning. She took part in the Google for Startups Residency Program. Creators.LLC was one of the first startups to receive capital from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund in Brazil.

Samuel Matias, Software Engineer at iFood. He became a developer in 2015 and is very active in the Flutter community. He frequently shares his learnings through online articles and talks.

Aline Bezzoco, Founder & Developer of Ta tudo bem? - a suicide prevention app . She feels that the best thing about technology is being able to create solutions to help people. Her app aids those struggling with mental health problems to feel calmer, less anxious and ask for help.

Egio Arruda Junior, Co-founder & CEO of EasyCrédito, a platform that facilitates loans. The main focus is to help those who don’t even have bank accounts. Egio is passionate about innovation and is always looking to create something new. He took part in two Google for Startups programs - Residency and Accelerator.

Márcio Dos Santos, Co-founder & CTO at Facio, a platform that provides loans and financial education to employees in Brazil. Amongst his family and friends, there was no one who had completed a higher education degree. He decided to study Computer Science because he was a video game fan. At University, a professor selected him to do an internship in the United States. Currently based in Seattle, USA, Márcio likes to be approached for advice by those at the beginning of their careers.

Danielle Monteiro, Data Engineer & Founder of Dani.Academy, an educational platform with free and paid courses about data, architecture, NoSQL and infrastructure. She was the first member of her family to start and finish college. She has now won many awards in and outside Brazil, and is a Google for Startups Mentor. Dani is passionate about giving back to society by sharing her knowledge through her blog, lectures, courses and articles.

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These are just some of the stories that show that the tech world is not for a few but for everyone. Together we can create change and see more Black people finding opportunities in tech. Celebrate these stories by sharing the video on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn.