Google.org Accelerator: 20 Startups Selected for Generative AI Cohort, 5 in Sub-Saharan Africa

Google has selected 20 startups for its newest Google.org Accelerator: Generative AI cohort, with 5 of these startups making a significant impact across Sub-Saharan Africa. These startups are leveraging generative AI to tackle critical societal issues such as crisis response, antimicrobial resistance, and children’s mental health. The selection process involved an open call for nonprofits, social enterprises, civic entities, and universities.

Each of the selected startups will receive a portion of the $30 million fund, along with six months of technical training, pro bono support from Google’s AI experts, and access to Cloud credits. This initiative, launched in 2024, aims to bring the benefits of AI to the social sector by providing nonprofits with funding and technical expertise. Previous cohorts have featured organizations like EIDU, Tabiya, and Jacaranda Health, which have demonstrated the positive impact of AI on their missions.

According to a recent Google.org survey, nearly two-thirds of nonprofits using AI tools reported feeling more confident in serving their organization’s mission when they use AI. However, only one in five say that at least half their organization uses generative AI. Seven months after graduating, members of the first cohort, such as Tabiya, have already seen the benefits. Tabiya used Google Cloud tools like Vertex AI to develop Compass, an open-source, generative AI-powered conversational agent designed to tackle youth unemployment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The startup plans to increase the number of job seekers that a single human career counselor can reach by 100%. Thanks to Compass, Tabiya has reached more than 8,000 job seekers in half the time and at a quarter of the cost.

The five African startups selected for the Google.org AI accelerator are as follows: Darsel from Nigeria, Signvrse from Kenya, Aga Khan University from Kenya, 3iS from Nigeria and Ethiopia, and CETA Global from Zambia and South Africa. Darsel is a supplemental tool for K12 school systems, providing personalized learning algorithms that adapt to students’ levels and offer hints and explanations to address learning gaps. In partnership with the Lagos State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Darsel is improving math learning rates for over 15,000 Grade 9 students in Nigeria through a generative AI-powered tutor that delivers 5 million personalized answers to student questions.

Signvrse is creating real-time, offline sign language avatars to overcome communication challenges and interpreter shortages for millions of deaf individuals across Africa. The startup works with organizations committed to removing communication barriers and reaching deaf and hard-of-hearing communities more effectively. Using AI, it enables instant sign language interpretation using 3D avatars and provides API integration tools for websites and apps that support deaf users and improve accessibility.

Aga Khan University addresses Kenya’s severe doctor shortage by providing doctors with real-time, evidence-based clinical guidance in English and Swahili, enhancing diagnostic accuracy, treatment decisions, and adherence to local guidelines. The startup is built on the belief that data can offer significant advantages, especially in low-income communities, making it easier for more people at the Aga Khan University to use powerful analytics daily, shorten the path from data to insight, and inspire bold discoveries that drive progress.

3iS is strengthening crisis response capabilities by enabling real-time insights that increase risk management skills, drive anticipatory action, and support efficient resource allocation for hundreds of thousands of people across Nigeria and Ethiopia. The startup uses data and cutting-edge technology to generate knowledge that equips leaders and change agents to better achieve their objectives in the humanitarian, development, and academic sectors.

CETA Global is addressing critical care shortages by equipping thousands of mental health providers globally with standardized, evidence-based, and cost-effective training through a simulation platform for realistic role-play and personalized feedback. It streamlines and solves workforce challenges with its groundbreaking software and workforce training system, easily administering the highest quality, cost-effective, transdiagnostic, evidence-based system going forward.