Google Launchpad program begins with 16 startups from India and Indonesia

Photo credit: Robbie Shade

Today 16 startups from India and Indonesia begin a two-week training program at Google HQ in Silicon Valley. It’s part of a new Google Developers Launchpad Accelerator program for mobile startups, which gives US$50,000 equity-free seed funding as well as US$250,000 worth of access to Google products like Maps and Adwords. More importantly, they will work closely with the global giant for six months, gaining access to Google mentors and engineers.

For the first batch under this program, Google chose startups from India, Indonesia, and Brazil which address challenges in their home regions and are ready to scale.

India’s an obvious choice for Google to engage with mobile startups and developers. The nation of 1.3 billion has over 600 million mobile users and over 400 million internet users.

Here are the 8 Indian startups Google picked for the first edition of the Launchpad Accelerator training program which gets under way today:

Doormint

Photo credit: Pixabay

Doormint is an on-demand laundry services startup that launched in Mumbai last year and raised US$3 million in series A funding from Helion Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital. It is in the process of expanding in Bangalore and Delhi. The biggest challenge it faces is keeping up the quality of services as it scales up – but a huge opportunity beckons in the size of the market.

See: Why investors are pouring millions into Uber-esque apps for household jobs in India

HolaChef

Photo credit: Pixabay

HolaChef is an on-demand food delivery service that curates meals from chefs who run their own kitchens. It has raised over US$3 million in seed funding from Kalaari Capital and India Quotient. Food startups hit a trough in India last year as quality and delivery issues tripped up a number of them. On the other hand, HolaChef, founded in 2014, has resisted going on an expansion spree. It currently operates only in Mumbai and neighboring Pune with selected chefs and not restaurants.

See: 11 failed startups in India this year and what you can learn from them

JustRide

NestAway

Super

Murmur

English Dost

FranklyMe

And the 8 startups from Indonesia

Jojonomic

Kakatu

HarukaEdu

Setipe

Kerjabilitas

Kurio

Seekmi

eFishery