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Google’s Launchpad Accelerator successfully takes off Apply to join the June class

Last month, 24 promising startups from India, Indonesia, and Brazil came to Silicon Valley to participate in Google’s Launchpad Accelerator, a new program that provides late-stage startups (mobile apps) with mentoring and resources to successfully scale in their local economies.

During the intensive two-week Accelerator kickoff in our Mountain View headquarters, Google engineers from 11 product areas, as well as experts from other companies, were on hand to provide startups with mentorship on how to scale and monetize their apps, and ultimately, build successful businesses. Now back in their home countries, the teams will continue developing their products with the support of up to $50,000 in equity-free funding, six more months of ongoing mentorship, and a breadth of developer tools from the Launchpad Accelerator program.

So far, many startup participants have already seen an immediate impact. Two weeks after attending the kickoff event, Brazilian mobile game developer UpBeat Games was featured on Google Play and saw a 1,000% increase in app installations in Asia, as well as a 200% overall increase in active users, by leveraging analytics to better understand their users.

According to UpBeat Games founder Vinicius Heimbeck, “By working one-on-one with the mentors, we learned that we needed to be a data-driven company. We now have the right analytics tools to measure the results of our efforts and to learn from them to optimize the user experience. This all directly impacted our huge success once we were featured on Google Play.”

eFishery, an Indonesian startup that produces smart automated fish feeders, turned its focus on scaling since attending Launchpad Accelerator. “The mentors gave us great insight about how to build a scalable product and how to engage billions of users,” said co-founder and CEO Gibran Chuzaefah Amsi El Farizy. “We received both technical and practical advice on our business, from building back-end technology to embracing failure with the right mindset.”

Apply now for Launchpad Accelerator We are also excited to announce the second class for Launchpad Accelerator which will begin in June 2016.

If you are a startup from India, Indonesia, Brazil, or Mexico (a new addition!) and are interested in participating in the next wave, we encourage you to apply here by March 31. We expect to continue adding more countries to the program in the future, so be on the lookout!

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Introducing the second class of Launchpad Accelerator

This week Launchpad Accelerator announces its second class, which includes 24 promising startups from around the world. While the number of accelerators is at an all-time high, we take a different approach with Launchpad Accelerator, a program that exclusively works with late-stage tech startups in emerging markets -- Brazil, Indonesia, India and Mexico.

See what it’s like to participate in the Accelerator.

“We provide comprehensive mentorship that delivers results,” says Jacob Greenshpan, one of Launchpad’s lead mentors. “We start by running a ‘patient diagnostic’ to determine each startup’s critical challenges, and then deploy precise mentorship, actionable solutions, and Google resources that enables the app to scale.”

Class 2 kicks off June 13. The startups will descend on Google HQ for an intensive 2 week bootcamp. Under the tutelage of Google product teams and mentors from the global Launchpad network, they will receive intensive, targeted mentoring, equity-free funding, and more benefits during the 6-month program.

Here’s the full list of startups (by country):

BankFacil	Emprego Ligado	AppProva	GetNinjas	Edools	Love Mondays

HijUp	Talenta	Jarvis Store	Ruangguru	IDNtimes	Codapay

Taskbob	Programming Hub	ShareChat	RedCarpet	PlaySimple Games	MagicPin

Aliada	SaferTaxi	Conekta	Konfio	Kichink	Miroculus

Google’s “Scalerator” Drives Results for Alumni

What advice do Class 1 alumni give to the new intake? “Come to the accelerator with an open mind. You will be shocked to find how many things are going wrong in your app. Thankfully the mentors will help you implement better solutions,” says Vinicius Heimbeck, Founder of Brazilian mobile game developer UpBeat Games.

UpBeat Games had more than 1,000% increase in daily app installations in Asia during the period of a feature, as well as a 200% overall increase in active users after following a long list of improvements Accelerator mentors suggested. “We made optimizations that led us to be featured in Google Play, which changed everything for us.”

See Upbeat Games at the Accelerator in this video.

“Believe you can build a world class product. The mentors will push you to bet on yourself,” says Amarendra Sahu, Nestaway Co-founder and Class 1 alumni. NestAway just closed a $30M Series C, one of the largest investment rounds in India this year.

“Your biggest enemy is not failure; it is the temptation to be ordinary. But the mentors will push you to build an extraordinary product and scale an extraordinary startup," says eFishery Co-founder and CEO Gibran Chuzaefah Amsi El Farizy, who was announced as one of the top 27 leaders in Indonesia’s startup ecosystem, after participating in the Accelerator program.

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