India

No, we do not take any equity or charge fee. The Google for Startups Accelerator: India programs are completely free of charge for all startups. All you need to contribute is your time and energy.

The accelerator program currently runs as a hybrid program. During the beginning of the program, we work with the startups selected into the accelerator and the anchor mentors to determine each startup’s challenges and support required from the program. Then these startups will go through an intensive 1-week long in-person Bootcamp around topics such as Product, Design, Technology, People & Growth, followed by the OKR (Objective Key Results) workshop to define their objective for the next 3 months.

The next two months of the program is all about supporting startups executing these objectives by providing access to our global network, 1:1 mentorships and 1:many sessions on demand virtually. The startups will also be paired with a dedicated Startup Success Manager (SSM) from Google to help startups get the best of Google - its people, network, thought leadership, and technology.

The graduated startups will be showcased through an in-person Demo Day with Google teams, mentors, VCs, media and different stakeholders from the Indian startup ecosystem. The engagement with the graduated startups will be continued through the Alumni program & network.

Google for Startups Accelerator: India Class 8 will run from Oct 2023 to Jan 2024 and the Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders will run from Aug 2023 to Nov 2023.

You can refer to the key dates section above for more information.

The Google for Startups Accelerator: India targets Seed to Series A funded AI-first startups headquartered in India. The Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders targets early-stage women-led tech startups up to Series A based in India.

The startups should be past the "idea stage" with some level of customer validation and market traction with their product.

We are looking for Indian startups that are solving problems using advanced technology like AI/ML or data in healthcare, education, finance, media & entertainment, gaming, enterprise & other industries and that can scale globally.

We review the completed applications from the startups in parallel to the application phase to check their eligibility for the accelerator program. The eligible applications will be reviewed by a panel of experts/program team and shortlist 40-60 startups for the interview/pitch session to evaluate the team, problem, solution and scalability. Then the shortlisted startups from the interview/pitch phase will be reviewed by the selection board for the final list. The final list of startups will receive the program contract to sign for the official announcement.

Note: All incomplete applications after the application deadline will be ineligible.

For over five years, Google has operated its Launchpad Accelerators which reach entrepreneurs in over 40 countries and include some of the most successful startups in the world in its global portfolio. Towards the end of 2019, all Launchpad Accelerators were renamed to Google for Startups Accelerator to simplify Google's startup offerings.

Both the Accelerators include deep dives and workshops in areas such as product design, customer acquisition, and founders’ leadership development along with mentoring and support on the design, tech, AI/ML, Cloud, UX, Android, Web, Product Strategy and Growth.

The Google for Startups Accelerator: India brings some custom programming and support for tech products and business challenges. If you are a growth-stage AI-first startup, we recommend you to apply for the Google for Startups Accelerator: India.

The Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders includes tailored programming, content and mentorship focused on women founder specific topics and challenges with access to growth opportunities, networking and our global community of women founders.

The upcoming accelerator will be a hybrid one with a mix of virtual and in-person sessions.