Google, Amazon ramp up start-up accelerator programmes for India’s women founders

Tech giant Google has announced that 20 women founders have graduated from the first cohort of its ‘Google For Startups Accelerator - India Women Founders’. Launched in 2022, the 3-month programme includes curriculum and engagement opportunities for women entrepreneurs, and offers them access to networks, access to capital, mentorship, and so on.

Google shared that not only have the women founders in its first cohort struck collaborations amongst themselves, but they have become each other’s customers too. “Beyond the impact of mentorship and actionable inputs on technology, product, UX and growth areas, the inaugural cohort points to the true potential and power of a motivated and driven community of peers who experience shared challenges,” said Paul Ravindranath, Program Manager at Google for Startups Accelerator India. 

He added, “It is essential that women – who currently make up less than 18 per cent of the country’s start-up leaders and founders - have an equitable opportunity to leverage digital to achieve their ambitions, and contribute to India’s aspirations of a truly digitally empowered economy.”

Last December, during Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai’s visit to India, Google announced a $75 million fund for investments in women-led start-ups. This is on top of its accelerator programme. 

Srishty Jain, Founder & CEO, CoLLearn, shared, “Participating in the Google for Startups Accelerator programme was an inflection point in CoLLearn’s journey. First and foremost, our vision changed. We started thinking beyond India and about how to cater to global citizens. It has also given us an approach for structured thinking for product launches, scaling up, digital marketing, all of which have helped us immensely.”

AWS' new accelerator 

Another Silicon Valley tech giant Amazon has partnered with venture capital fund Lightspeed to launch its early-stage accelerator ‘AccelerateHer 2023’ with the aim of nurturing, growing, and scaling women-led businesses. The programme will offer 20 women-led start-ups access to mentorship and fundraising opportunities from leaders across industries. 

The selected founders will also receive resources, benefits, and cloud services curated by AWS for early-stage start-ups in India, and connect them with an active peer community of other women entrepreneurs. The programme will conclude with a Demo Day, where the selected cohort will get to pitch their products and services to an industry-leading panel of investors.

Amitabh Nagpal, Head of Startup Ecosystem, AWS India, said, “AccelerateHer is a timely call to action towards building a future where the tech entrepreneurial community is diverse, inclusive, and accessible to all. It upholds the Government’s vision of Startup India, which promotes the sustainable development of women entrepreneurs for balanced growth in the country.”

AccelerateHer will be a sector-agnostic programme that is open for start-ups founded in India in the last five years. These companies must have at least one woman founder or co-founder, and a minimum viable product or launched solution. Bootstrapped start-ups or those that have raised less than $3 million can apply.

Rahul Taneja, Partner at Lightspeed, added, “The AccelerateHer programme, in collaboration with AWS, is in line with our core values and reflects our commitment to level the playing field for women entrepreneurs. We are passionate believers that creating access, enabling communities, and sharing knowledge are important elements with which AccelerateHer will enable our female founders to build enduring companies.”