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We’re delighted to announce the six finalists from India for the 4th class of Launchpad Accelerator program that  will be joining an inspiring group of startups from all over Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe. With this batch, a total of 26 Indian startups have now become part of the  launchpad accelerator program from India.

The fourth class will kick off on July 17th, 2017 at the Google Developers Launchpad Space in San Francisco with a two weeks all-expense-paid mentorship bootcamp.  This batch of startups will gain from our new curriculum that will help the startups dig deeper into machine learning and AI and help them leverage Google’s latest technologies to scale their apps.

In the six months program, they will undergo intensive mentoring from 20+ teams across Google and mentors from top technology companies and VCs in Silicon Valley. Additionally they will  receive equity-free support and credits for Google products and continue to work closely with Google back in India during the 6-month program.

These startups were shortlisted from hundreds of startups who applied this year based on their unique value proposition and use of latest technologies like machine learning and AI (Artificial Intelligence) to build high impact solutions that are solving for the Indian context, focusing on new internet users and digital India.  They cover optimization of financial services ranging from loans, credit cards, upto date information platform for train journeys, online video platform focussing on content from Indian cinema from South of India to the unique implementation of AI to aid discovery of recipes for cooking.

The list also includes B2B companies that use AI or ML for various applications be it image recognition capabilities to aid medical diagnosis by analysing visual data, providing solutions for talent acquisition and workforce optimization.

Here’s the full list of shortlisted startups from India:

India
	EdGE Networks: HR solutions provider powered by Artificial Intelligence
	FastFilmz: The Super App for Super Fans of South Indian movies!
	IndiaLends: Credit underwriting and analytics platform for unsecured consumer lending
	RailYatri: Intelligent, big data platform that leverages crowd-sourced content to help long distance travelers
	RecipeBook: Intelligent solutions in food and retail powered by deep learning computer vision
	SigTuple: Smart screening solutions powered by data driven intelligence

Posted by Paul Ravindranath G, Program Manager, Google India

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Designed for India: Do things faster using the new Google Maps home screen

This week, we are rolling out a new home screen on Google Maps for Android, specifically designed for people in India. After you update to the latest version of Google Maps, you’ll see newly added shortcuts on the home screen that help you explore the app in just a few quick taps. We’re also making sure the new home screen loads fast - so the millions of people in India coming online can discover and share great places, even on spotty connections.

Now when you fire up your Google Maps app, you’ll instantly see a directions card with different modes of transportation. Whether you’d like to take the bus to Connaught Place in New Delhi or you are planning to go by foot to a new mall that just opened nearby, you can start planning your route with a single tap. And if you’d like to access a certain route while you’re on the go without using data, you can save the route to be used offline.

Below the directions card, you’ll also see icons highlighting some of the other useful features on Maps - from getting a first impression of a place with satellite imagery, to real-time information about traffic around you, to more details about public transport lines when you’re on the road. All these features are now just a tap away. In addition, with a tap on the download icon, you can save a specific map area for offline use, so you can trust you’ll get to where you need to go, even when you lose connectivity.

We hope this new home screen provides a much more intuitive and faster experience for people in India. The Maps team will continue to evolve our products to make them useful no matter where you go or what you do, especially for the millions of people coming online for the first time.

Posted by Cathay Bi, Product Manager Google Maps