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Google has selected eight Nigerian startups to participate in the fifth cohort of the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, formerly known as Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa. The Nigerian startups will join 12 counterparts selected from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Google said this year’s programme will take place online and startups will participate remotely. The three-month programme will run from June 29 to September 11, 2020. The class of 20 startups cut across various industries, including logistics, transportation, education, agriculture, e-commerce, media, health and professional services.

The Nigerian startups among the class 5 cohort are CredPal, a financial technology company that enables consumers make purchases and pay in fixed monthly installments; Crop2Cash, an offline platform that makes financing accessible to smallholder farmers; Curacel, an AI-powered platform that enables insurers track fraud and automate claims seamlessly; and Festival Coins, an event technology company that equips live event organisers with tools to enable them improve event efficiency.

Other members of the group are JUDY, which provides access to a comprehensive database of case judgments from Nigeria and Ghana; Send, a digital freight forwarder and customs broker; and Stears, a media platform that provides business news analysis. Among the cohort is also The Smarthub, a platform for building and developing ideas and technology for social impact, scalability and investment.

There are six startups from Kenya participating in the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa 2020. The startups are AmiTruck, BuuPass, Crediation, Ilara Health, Uzapoint and Zuka Data Science. The two South African startups among the cohort are Beamm and Franc. Ghanaian startup, Adi+Bolga; Ethiopia’s Zayride, Zimbabwe’s Thumeza and Tunisia’s Kaoun are also in the class 5 of the Google accelerator programme.

Since its launch in 2017, there have been four previous editions of the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa programme, with 47 startups from 17 African countries participating in the programme, which helps startups move their businesses forward and position themselves to gain funding.