Google Opens Application for 2025 Startups Accelerator Programme

Google has opened applications for the 2025 Google for Startups Accelerator Africa programme, a three-month initiative designed to support early-stage startups using artificial intelligence to address Africa’s most pressing challenges.

Across the continent, startups are demonstrating how local innovation can solve deeply rooted problems. In West Africa, Crop2Cash – an agritech platform and alumni of the program – is using AI to digitally onboard smallholder farmers, build their financial identities, and provide them with access to credit, traceable payments, and productivity tools.

Head of Startup Ecosystem, Africa at Google, Folarin Aiyegbusi, said: “Startups are Africa’s problem solvers. With the right resources, they can scale their impact far beyond local communities. The programme reflects our belief that AI can be transformative when shaped by those who understand the context deeply.”

Since 2018, the programme has supported 140 startups from 17 African countries, and the products have raised more than $300 million in funding and created over 3,000 jobs, with many becoming regional and global leaders in their categories.