Posted by Matt Ridenour, Head of Startup Developer Ecosystem -
USA
Today only
1% of venture capital goes to Black founders in the US, with Black women founders
receiving even less. At Google, we are committed to building
racial equity in the North American startup ecosystem. In May, we announced an open call for
applications for our third class of Google for
Startups Accelerator: Black Founders, bringing the best of Google's programs,
products, people and technology to Black founders across North America. From hundreds of
applicants, we're proud to announce the 12 exceptional startups selected to join the
accelerator:
Beam.city DNA (Toronto, Ontario): A growth coordination AI
Platform helping businesses maximize growth using ads, email and
social.
EdLight (Melrose, Massachusetts)
Uses AI to better read, interpret and digitize handwritten student work, reducing
misconceptions and increasing equity amongst students, teachers and
families.
HumanSquad (Toronto, Ontario):
Simplifies the immigration and study abroad system by empowering immigrants everywhere with
the resources, products and personalized support to immigrate conveniently and
affordably.
Innovare (Chicago, Illinois): An
app that aggregates and displays data from a variety of systems to empower education leaders
to make data-driven decisions that positively impact students and
communities.
Mozaic (Chicago, Illinois): An
API-first global payment platform built for co-creators on any project, providing smart
contracts that automate split income among creative teams.
Node (Toronto, Ontario): A gig marketplace that allows small
businesses to hire local influencers in their neighborhood.
Onramp (Oakland, California): A workforce development platform
helping companies build more diverse candidate pipelines by providing them with a mechanism to
invest in skills development for current and future candidates.
Paerpay (Boston, Massachusetts): A contactless payment and
loyalty experience for restaurants and their guests that doesn't require a new point of sale
(POS) system.
Smart Alto (Birmingham, Alabama): A
conversational sales platform for local service providers, enabling them to set meetings with
clients without cold calling.
TurnSignl
(Minneapolis, Minnesota): A mobile platform that provides real-time, on-demand legal guidance
from an attorney to drivers, all while their camera records the
interaction.
WearWorks (Brooklyn, New York): Uses
the skin as a communications channel to deliver information. Their product, Wayband, is a
Haptic navigation app and wristband to guide users using vibration without visual or audio
cues.
XpressRun (Louisville,
Kentucky): Provides same-day and next-day delivery at competitive rates for direct-to-consumer
brands.
This fall, these startups will embark on a 10-week
virtual program consisting of mentorship, technical support and curriculum covering product
design, machine learning, customer acquisition, and leadership development for founders.
Please visit the company’s websites and reach out to them for more
information.
