benefit

benefit kind: research_budget · text: While preference is given to startups with funding and commercial traction (pre-seed to series A), we consider all founders and researchers with great ideas and a strong plan for how to build them.

benefit

benefit kind: in_kind · text: Some participants may also be eligible for funding from Google AI Futures Fund and these leading VCs.

benefit

benefit kind: in_kind · text: along with Google AI Futures Fund to provide selected teams at the Google Africa Applied AI Lab an opportunity to receive mentorship, guidance, and potential funding from these leading VCs.

application route

codes: direct

funding

The program will culminate in a demo day, where startups will present their work from their time in the program to Googlers, top investors, and partners, where they will have the opportunity to receive potential funding and further support. Evidence redrive used accessible official/source capture and retained quoted support snippets.

eligibility

All researchers and founders with a startup idea are eligible to apply (Pre-Seed to Series C+). All researchers and founders with a startup idea are eligible to apply (Pre-Seed to Series C+). Introducing the Google Africa Applied AI Lab, propelling Africa's elite AI entrepreneurs and researchers with technical support and early access to Google AI models. Applied AI programming will be highly customized to the needs of the startup and their stage of development, so terms will differ from team to team. We’re looking for current full-time founders and/or top researchers who are looking to become startup founders. Our teams will review your application and evaluate it against a series of criteria tied to our investment focus areas.; Selected startups will receive early access to cutting-edge models from Google DeepMind (such as Gemini, Gemma, and Veo) to experiment with commercial use cases, before the models are released to the general market.; along with Google AI Futures Fund to provide selected teams at the Google Africa Applied AI Lab an opportunity to receive mentorship, guidance, and potential funding from these leading VCs.

eligibility

Applications open on July 1, 2026, and close on August 31, 2026.

eligibility

While the formal co-development period concludes following the demo day at AICC, there is no commitment for startups to be in-person at the AICC throughout the co-development period.

eligibility

While not required, we do evaluate team composition and completeness as part of the application process.

Google Africa Applied AI Lab 2026 2026

Google Africa Applied AI Lab 2026 2026

3 published recipients · partial