Novastar Joins Google Africa Applied AI Lab to Back 5-10 African AI Startups

On Wednesday at Google Cloud Summit in South Africa, Novastar Ventures partnered with Google AI Futures Fund, 4DX Ventures, Norrsken22, and Ventures Platform to launch the Google Africa Applied AI Lab. The initiative, based at the Accra AI Community Centre in Ghana, aims to support African founders building AI solutions to address continent-wide challenges.

The selected startups will receive early access to Google's latest AI models including Gemini, Gemma, and Veo, alongside technical mentorship and go-to-market support from participating VCs. Five to 10 startups and researchers will be selected for the inaugural cohort, with the first group announced in September. According to GSMA, artificial intelligence could add up to $2.9 trillion to Africa's economy by 2030.