Applications Open for the Google Startups Accelerator: Black & Women Founders Cohorts

Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders and Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders are open for applications. Ten to twelve North American startups will be selected to each accelerator, for an intensive three-month bootcamp to give founders and their teams the tools to prepare for the next phase of growth.

As the world re-opens, it’s been thrilling to see the entrepreneurial spirit of founders as they get back to what they do best - creating new and innovative businesses.

While the startup ecosystem continues to recover, navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that there are significant structural barriers preventing founders from diverse communities from accessing the support and resources they need to grow their business.

As part of our commitment to support underrepresented founders, we’re thrilled to bring back the Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders program and the Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders program. This marks the third year for both programs across North America.

These accelerators are designed to not only help startups identify and solve technical challenges and grow their business, but also provide tailored programming and mentorship focused on the specific longstanding barriers and challenges that these underrepresented groups face.

Black and women entrepreneurs continue to be underrepresented in Canada’s tech startup ecosystem because many lack access to resources required to launch their business. For Black founders, a recent study underscores how securing funding, financing, capital or sales is the most significant barrier to scaling their business. Similarly for women founders, the study also highlights challenges faced with accessing venture capital and support. Compared to their male counterparts, women are less likely to receive venture capital or angel funding and other forms of leverage such as trade credit or capital leasing. In fact, data revealed global venture funding to female-founded companies fell significantly in 2020, with only 2.3 per cent of funding going to female-only founders.

Similar to previous cohorts, we will be selecting 10-12 tech startups from across North America for each accelerator to provide unique programming that addresses the specific needs of Black and women-led startups. Along with mentorship and technical project support, accelerator programming will also feature 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 non-technical programming through the lens of their communities.

• Apply here: Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders
• Apply Here: Google for Startup Accelerator: Women Founders

This article is shared directly with permission from the Google Canada Blog for Startups Accelerator. For more information, please visit the original blog source.