Google for Start-ups Accelerator is focused on sustainable development goals
Geared towards social impact startups working to create a healthier and more sustainable future, the Google accelerator provides access to training, products and technical support.
Star-tup founders will work with Google engineers and receive mentoring from over 20 teams at Google, as well as outside experts and local mentors.
The 11 successful startups have been selected based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals including poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice.
The program is designed to address the unique challenges founders face when building a social impact company:
Product and engineering expertise
People with social impact expertise don’t always have experience building tech products.
Our program seeks to bring startups together with the best technology products, data and people to help them build expertise.
Business development
Monetization for social impact startups is complex and can involve multiple parties.
The people who pay for it may not be the people who use it, or the people who benefit from it.
Our accelerator will help founders connect with relevant audiences, such as potential users, investors and advertisers.
Access to funding
While investors are increasingly seeing the value in social impact startups, there are unique challenges in attracting the right investors, and competing with traditional startups who are focused primarily on growth or acquisition.
Here are the eleven selected start-ups:
Apic.ai (Germany)
Is using honeybees as biosensors in the fight to protect biodiversity. (SDG 2, SDG 11, SDG 15)
Cervest.earth (UK)
Provides personalised insights for producers and policymakers on the impact of climatic and extreme events, predicting in real-time, for any location on the planet. (SDG 13)
Ellipsis.earth (UK)
Leverages drone imagery to map the missing 99% of plastic pollution on earth, aiming to provide a global database of plastic waste to influence lasting change. (SDG 14, SDG 15)
Everimpact (France)
Combines satellite imagery and ground sensing to monitor air quality and carbon emissions in cities. (SDG 11, SDG 13)
Flare (Kenya)
Offers software infrastructure and operational support for medical emergency response services in Sub-Saharan Africa. (SDG 3, SDG 9, SDG 10)
mDoc (Nigeria)
Uses a digital platform and in-person hubs to support people living with chronic diseases. (SDG 3)
OKO (Israel)
Is a new generation crop insurance designed for emerging markets, using new technologies in satellite imagery and weather forecasting to simplify and automate claim management. (SDG 1)
Ororatech (Germany)
It’s the first commercial supplier of infrared satellite data for early detection and real-time monitoring of wildfires across the globe. (SDG 13, SDG 15)
Skilllab (Netherlands)
Provides artificial intelligence driven skill assessment to better integrate refugees into labour markets. (SDG 4, SDG 8, SDG 10)
Solar Freeze (Kenya)
A pioneering mobile cold storage units powered by renewable energy for smallholder farmers, to help them reduce post-harvest loss in the developing world. (SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 7)
Wondertree (Pakistan)
Accelerates cognitive and motor development in children with special needs through movement based therapeutic and educational AR games. (SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 10)
This accelerator will help participants connect and work with a wider base of potential investors.
The accelerator is part of Google for Startups which help startups build and scale great products by matching them with the best of Google; people, network and advanced technologies.
Featured Image: sociable.co
