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Startups from Nigeria and South Africa have been selected to take part in the fifth class of the Google Launchpad accelerator, a six-month, equity-free mentorship programme.

Disrupt Africa reported in February Google was bringing the Launchpad Accelerator to Africa, aimed at assisting startups in leveraging Google’s latest technologies to scale their businesses through mentoring.

It was subsequently expanded, with startups from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Uganda now covered.

Startups from across the world have been selected to take part in the latest class, including three from Africa. Nigeria is represented by two companies, namely electronic medical records startup Helium Health, and fintech startup Paylater.

South African startup Aerobotics, which helps farmers optimise their yields and reduce their costs through its aerial data analytics platform, is also selected, alongside startups from countries such as Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.

“This includes a diverse group of startups from all over the world looking to tackle everything from streamlining medical records in Africa to improving breast cancer screenings,” said Roy Glasberg, global lead for the Google Developers Launchpad.

The Launchpad accelerator includes an intensive two-week bootcamp in San Francisco and mentoring from over 30 teams across Google and expert mentors from top technology companies and VCs in Silicon Valley and globally.

Participants receive equity-free support, credits for Google products and media training, and continue to work closely with Google back in their home country.

Class 5 kicks off on January 29, 2018 at the Google Developers Launchpad Space in San Francisco.

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