PremiumListen to this article |
Google on Tuesday announced a startup accelerator program for women founders which will help them address challenges such as fundraising and hiring.
The inaugural batch of the 'Google for Startups Accelerator - India Women Founders' will accept up to 20 women-founded / co-founded startups in the country, and support them through a three-month program. The program will place special focus on areas like access to networks, capital, hiring challenges, mentorship, and other areas which, for a variety of social reasons and low representation, prove challenging for female founders.
The selected Startups will receive mentorship and support around AI/ML, Cloud, UX, Android, Web, Product Strategy and Growth. In addition to mentorship and technical project support, the accelerator includes deep dives and workshops focused on product design, customer acquisition, and founders’ leadership development.
Google for Startups Accelerator India - Women Founders will run from Jul-2022 to Sep-2022. You can refer to the key dates section above for more information.
Google is looking for Indian startups that are solving problems using advanced technology like AI/ML or data in healthcare, education, finance, media & entertainment, gaming, enterprise & other industries and that can scale globally.
Google will review the completed applications from the startup in parallel to the application phase to check their eligibility for the accelerator program. The eligible applications will be reviewed by a panel of experts/program team and shortlist 30-40 startups for the interview/pitch session to evaluate the team, problem, solution and scalability. Then the shortlisted startups from the interview/pitch phase will be reviewed by the selection board for the final list. The final list of startups will receive the program contract to sign for the official announcement.
Format of the Program
In light of the COVID-19 crisis, the accelerator currently runs as a fully digital program. During the beginning of the program, we work with the startups selected into the accelerator and the anchor mentors to determine each startup’s challenges and support required from the program. Then these startups will go through an intensive Bootcamp around topics such as Product, Design, Technology, People & Growth, followed by the OKR (Objective Key Results) workshop to define their objective for the next 3 months.
The next two months of the program is all about supporting startups executing these objectives by providing access to our global network, 1:1 mentorships and 1:many sessions on demand. The startups will also be paired with a dedicated Startup Success Manager (SSM) from Google to help startups get the best of Google - its people, network, thought leadership, and technology.
The graduated startups will be showcased in a Demo Day with Google teams, mentors and different stakeholders from the Indian startup ecosystem. The engagement with the graduated startups will be continued through the Alumni program & network.
