This summer, Google celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Canadian edition of the Google for Startups Accelerator program.
And same as every other year, Google put out a call for Canadian tech startups—this round, with a focus on firms leveraging artificial intelligence.
“We were blown away by the quality of the applications we received, and worked hard to narrow it down to the 14 startups joining the class of 2024,” stated Iran Karimian, who functions as Head of the Accelerator & Startup Ecosystem for Google Canada. “We’re excited and inspired by the incredible work these startups are doing and we can’t wait to get started with them.”
Among the 14 selected Canadian startups is one from British Columbia.
Based out of Vancouver, Defang Software Labs offers a simpler way to develop and deploy cloud applications.
Defang started in 2022 because it was “too difficult to create, deploy, and manage cloud applications,” according to founders Lionello Lunesu and Prakash Sundaresan.
To simplify the process, CTO Lunesu and CEO Sundaresan removed “as much unnecessary complexity as possible.” Next, they integrated modern tech to boost power.
For example, by leveraging Generative AI, users can go instantaneously from a natural language prompt to initial project outline and code. One can then deploy it to their own cloud account with a single command.
Long-term objectives for the firm include evolving app architectures, greater portability across clouds, and increased resilience, the founders say.
The Google for Startups program provides three months of equity-free access to experts and technology.
“The cohort will receive mentorship and technical project support from Google and Google Cloud, deep dives and workshops focused on areas like product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development—and will tackle sprint projects focused on the development of their AI and machine learning technology,” explains Karimian.
Since launching five years ago, Google’s Canada program has observed more than 100 graduating companies raise a total of $400 million and hired 900 new employees, Karimian says.
Leave a Reply