Two Kenyan startups are among 11 companies that took part and graduated in the second edition of Google’s Launchpad Accelerator Africa program which is targeted at boosting entrepreneurship in the technology space in sub-Saharan Africa.
Within the 3 month program, the startups engaged with 48 mentors from 9 countries and received $110,000 in equity-free funding from Google, says the head of startup success and services, Launchpad Accelerator Africa, Folagbade Olatunji-David.
“We’re currently as a region creating about 3 million jobs per year while more than 11 million job seekers are entering the market,’’ said Mr Folagbade.
Launchpad Accelerator Africa was initiated in July 2017 and is expected to run until 2020. This involves two intakes of 10 – 12 startups per year, representing an investment of $3 Million in equity-free support, working space, and access to expert advisers from Google.
The two start-ups from Kenya were; Cloud9xp, an online marketplace and booking service that allows people to buy and sell experiences in various locations across Africa and the Middle East and PayGo Energy, a smart meter and connected software service that allows players in the Liquid Petrified Gas (LPG) value chain to better service their customers, driving the adoption of clean cooking fuels.
The event saw participants from six Sub-Saharan Countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Egypt.
