Meet the 6 Indian startups in Google’s second Launchpad

It’s interesting that the six Indian startups in the second batch of Google’s Launchpad accelerator program are so different from the ones in the original batch.

The common denominator is, of course, that they’re all mobile startups because that’s the idea behind the program, which started in January. Google is targeting the world’s fastest growing mobile markets. Those include India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico, which are also hotspots for adoption of Google apps and products. Working with innovative startups from these countries provides Google with great market insights and gets it loved for being a supporter of emerging startup ecosystems.

Google is casting its net wide to get startups from a broad range of domains. This is evident from its selection of startups for the two batches where there’s little overlap in the domains they cover.

Different domains

The first batch of mobile startups from India engaged in food delivery, car rental, home rental, jobs, news, video, language learning, and on-demand laundry. The new batch deals with gaming, shopping rewards, fintech, vernacular social networking, programming language coaching, and home services.

The startups will join others from Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico for two weeks of mentoring at Mountain View, California, followed by six months of remote support after they’re back home. They will also each get equity-free funding of US$50,000 and credits worth US$250,000 to use Google products such as Maps and Adwords.

See: 6 startups from Indonesia got into Google’s second Launchpad

Here’s the pack of six from India headed for Google HQ next month:

1. RedCarpet

RedCarpet provides instant micro-credit for shopping, bills, movie tickets, and the like. It is aimed at the unbanked, but others may also find it convenient for buying things with their smartphones and paying in installments. The startup has developed a proprietary credit scoring system for data-driven lending. As of now, it charges no fees or interest if the loan is paid back within 30 days.

See: IndiaLends has a formula for fintech disruption

2. ShareChat

ShareChat is a vernacular social networking app aimed at the next billion internet users. It currently supports four Indian languages: Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, and Marathi. Coming soon are Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, and Gujarati.

See: These entrepreneurs aren’t afraid of India’s rural edtech beast

3. MagicPin

MagicPin is a shopping rewards site with a twist. When you visit any of MagicPin’s partner outlets, such as restaurants, you take a selfie and submit that along with a photo of the bill. You earn rewards or cashback. The interesting thing here is its connect with the youngest smartphone users – Generation Mobile.

See: Indian startup reveals life inside Google Launchpad

4. PlaySimple

5. Programming Hub

6. Taskbob