NEW DELHI: Google has announced its first accelerator program in India for female-led startups. Its goal is to assist female-led startups in scaling by connecting them to the right mentors and network of other startups, as well as assisting them in raising funds and hiring the right tech talent.
Google hopes to shortlist 40 startups each year, divide them into two cohorts, and mentor each cohort for three months. Startups with a woman on the founding team who has raised a seed to series A fund are eligible to apply for the program.
According to Aditya Swamy, director of Google Play and Google for Startups, “there’s a largely female population with the ambition to truly build, design, and influence society, but they don’t have access to capital.””
According to Swamy, only 6% of the billions of dollars raised by startups in India went to women-led startups. Startups led entirely by women received only 1.5 percent of the funding.
“From a product standpoint, more women-founded companies will be able to truly solve the problems that women face, making our society truly inclusive.” “Swamy added
According to Paul Ravindranath G, program manager, Developer Relations & Head of Google Accelerator at Google India, there are three or four key themes that Google wants to address ethically through this accelerator.
Access to mentors is one of them. Ravindranath G observed that 48% of women stated that they did not have a great mentor. “Mentorship has always been the foundation of our programs.” And we’re working hard to establish a strong mentor network and ensure that we can meet the needs of female-led startups.”
The accelerator will also work to solve these startups’ funding issues. “We are looking at what can be done to enable these female founders to be better prepared to raise funds,” Ravindranath G said. It will include pitching, storytelling, and giving them access to our investor community or network.”
The accelerator also provides women founders with access to a network of other women-led startups from India and other countries. “We have a global women founder network, and we will make sure that Indian founders are connected to it and have the opportunity to learn from them.” “Ravindranath G. added
The program will begin with a needs analysis, followed by an understanding of the key issues that startups face. They will then begin a mentor matching process, after which the mentor and a Google team will focus on the female founder and the challenges her startup is facing.
Furthermore, the program will attempt to resolve their hiring issues. According to Ravindranath G, many female founders have expressed difficulty in hiring tech teams, finding a CTO, or building a tech team that believes in their idea.
The accelerator program also provides access to workshops, tech architecture reviews, and design and UX assistance.
