All over the world, women-led startups are contributing to economic growth, creating jobs and solving challenges for the communities they’re part of. Yet the stark reality is that these entrepreneurs aren’t getting the financial backing they deserve. Women founders are still far less likely to receive funding from venture capital investors. In the U.S. and Europe, for example, startups established solely by women receive less than 2% of all venture capital funding.
To help bridge this gap, we’re committed to supporting women founders through our equity-free Google for Startups Accelerator programs, which provide startups with the mentorship and technical tools they need to prepare for the next phase of their growth. Since we first launched these programs in 2016, 36% of the 1,000 startups we’ve supported have been led by women. In 2020, we launched a dedicated program for women — Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders — in North America. The program has since expanded around the world.
This year, as we mark International Women’s Day, we’re kicking off two new classes, including our fifth cohort in North America and our first in Europe and Israel. Here are the 28 startups building AI solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.