Google announced the opening of the application window for the second Google for Startups Accelerator: Middle East and North Africa program in response to the large interest after concluding the first successful cohort.
Google for Startups Accelerator: MENA is a three-month digital accelerator program for Seed to Series A technology startups based in the region, and will run virtually starting mid-July 2021. The first cohort included 10 top startups from six Arab countries — four of which are women-led businesses: Abwaab (Jordan), Carers (Jordan), Chefaa (Egypt), DABCHY (Tunisia), Designhubz (UAE), Lamsa (UAE), Lendo (Saudi Arabia), Nafas Meditation App (Oman), Viavii (Jordan) and 360VUZ (UAE).
Similar to the first cohort, selected founders will identify their top challenges and will then be paired with relevant experts from Google and the industry to help solve them. Participating startups will also receive mentorship on both technical and business challenges as well as workshops covering machine learning technologies, product design/UX, customer acquisition, and leadership development. Participants will also have access to 1:1 coaching by experts from Google and other tech companies, to help them pitch to investors after the program ends.
Applicants must be a technology startup based in MENA that have already raised seed funding. Google will consider the problem the tech startup is trying to solve and how it creates value for users, in addition to their willingness to use the latest technologies to solve business challenges and successfully scale in the long run.
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Commenting on the program, Salim Abid, Google’s Regional Lead of Developer Ecosystem in MENA, said: ‘‘Congratulations to the ten graduates of our first cohort. Thanks to more than a hundred mentors from Google and other key industry representatives of the startup community, we were able to support the startups solve their challenges whether related to product development, setting up OKRs, or exploring opportunities to scale with advanced technologies.’’
He continued: ‘‘We hope through our second cohort to equip more homegrown entrepreneurs with the latest digital skills to grow and tackle the unexpected societal challenges brought by the pandemic.’’
The application window for the second Google for Startups Accelerator program in MENA will remain open until May 25th, 2021. Selected startups will be announced in early July 2021.
