As companies look to create diversity in their workplaces in the wake of ongoing protests and conversations about racial justice and equity, Google is looking to give a boost to Black startup founders with a new accelerator program. And the inaugural cohort includes an Austin startup.
As part of a broader effort at Google to bring awareness to Black-owned businesses, the company announced the launch of its Google for Startups Accelerator for Black Founders. The inaugural class will include Austin-based edtech startup Upswing.
Upswing, co-founded by CEO Melvin Hines in 2013, has developed an app that is specially designed for non-traditional and diverse students. And, after being awarded with a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2018, the company set a goal to help 50,000 college students graduate by 2020.
Last year, it raised a $2 million round of funding from Impact America Fund, Rethink Education, Lumina Foundation and Strada. It has previously raised $3 million, dating back to a seed round in 2014, according to Crunchbase. Upswing was also a Blazer winner in Austin Inno's 2019 50 on Fire.
“Melvin Hines Jr and his team at Upswing are doing some incredibly exciting and vital work to reach, relate to, and retain non-traditional students," Jason Scott, Google's head of developer ecosystem in the U.S., said in a statement. "Through our longstanding work with entrepreneurial hub Capital Factory, Google for Startups has long known Austin to be an ideal city for innovative companies. We’re excited to have Melvin on board as a member of our first Google for Startups Accelerator:Black Founder cohort."
With a focus on companies between Seed and Series A stages, startups in the accelerator program are using AI and ML within their own businesses to help solve issues ranging from health care and debt relief to customer relations and lowering college dropout rates.
The three-month program kicks off next month. Members of the cohort will receive training and support on things like technical challenges, business growth and gaining outside investments from Google and other industry leaders.
The creation of the Google for Startups Accelerator for Black Founders is part of other efforts taking place within the Alphabet-owned company. Google also announced plans to let verified businesses to add a Black-owned attribute to their profiles and to make them easier to search on its Maps app. In addition, the company is expanding its Google Digital Coaches program, which was launched in 2017 to provide mentoring and workshops to founders of color, to several new cities, including Birmingham, Memphis and Cleveland.
Check out the 12 members of the inaugural Google for Startups Accelerator for Black Founders cohort below (descriptions provided by Google).
- 4Degrees (Chicago) – 4Degrees is an AI-enabled customer relationship management platform for professional services like banking, consulting, and real estate.
- Clerkie (San Francisco) – Clerkie is a debt relief marketplace that helps people get out of debt through automation.
- Florence (Los Angeles) – Florence is a demand labor marketplace for healthcare organizations and an integrated accredited degree granting online nursing school.
- Kanarys (Dallas) – Kanarys provides technological tools to help companies monitoring, analyzing, measure and benchmark diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
- LoanWell (Durham, Nc.) – LoanWell is an enterprise solution for community banks, credit unions, CDFIs and loan funds. They have created a cloud based loan management system for intake, origination, underwriting, closing, servicing, and reporting.
- MedHaul (Memphis) – MedHaul is a tech-enabled marketplace for finding and booking safe, skilled special needs transportation.
- MindRight Health (Newark) – MindRight Health provides culturally responsive mental health coaching over text message to communities of color and low-income families.
- ShearShare (McKinney) – ShearShare is the first mobile marketplace for stylists to manage and grow their small business on their terms, starting with space to work.
- TQ Intelligence (Atlanta) – TQ Intelligence uses voice recognition technology and AI to measure toxic stress and transform trauma care.
- Upswing (Austin) – Upswing partners with colleges and institutions to reverse the dropout rate of online and non-traditional students.
- WeatherCheck (Louisville) – WeatherCheck monitors and measures weather damage to help insurance carriers reduce their overall claims expense.
- ZeroStoreFront (San Mateo, Ca.) – ZeroStoreFront uses data analytics to help small businesses acquire users, increase revenue, and retain customers.
NTX Inno writer Kevin Cummings contributed to this story.
