Three Canadian startups are joining Google’s latest cohort for its women founders accelerator.
NLPatent, BorderlessHR, and Monark–which are respectively based in Toronto, Ottawa, and Calgary–are among the 11 North American startups selected to take part in this year’s edition of Google for Startups’ Women Founders program.
As its name suggests, NLPatent uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning in its patent-search platform with the aim of helping intellectual property (IP) professionals find more relevant results. The startup was co-founded in 2021 by CEO Stephanie Curcio and CTO James Stonehill.
NLPatent, BorderlessHR, and Monark–which are respectively based in Toronto, Ottawa, and Calgary–are among the 11 North American startups selected to take part in this year’s cohort.
At the Collision tech conference in Toronto this year, NLPatent was among the top three finalists out of 1,500 startups that applied to the pitch competition. Toronto-based kitchen-rental startup Syzl was crowned winner.
BorderlessHR offers a suite of products for human resource teams in one platform. Led by co-founders Lucia Udochukwu Onuoha (COO) and Paschal Amaechi (CEO), BorderlessHR offers tools for recruiting, directory and organization charts, stock options, onboarding, time tracking, and payments. The startup was named one of the fastest growing companies in Canada in 2022 by the Founder Institute.
Co-founded by Kelsey Hahn (CEO) and Amanda Julian (chief science officer) in 2020, Monark is a mobile app that offers on-demand and personalized programs for leadership development.
Named after the Monarch butterfly, which undergoes four stages in its lifecycle, Monark aims to move beyond traditional solutions offered by consultants, coaches, and business schools by offering an integrated and customized experience for leaders of all kinds of levels.
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Per Crunchbase data, Monark previously raised $600,000 in angel investments in 2021. It is also backed by University of Calgary’s UCeed startup investment fund.
This cohort represents the fourth installment of Google’s Women Founders program. Participants will go through the 10-week virtual bootcamp and gain access to technical mentorship from Google experts, along with deep dives and workshops focused on product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development for founders.
The accelerator also focuses on nontechnical programming that addresses the unique barriers faced by women in the startup ecosystem.
Google launched the initiative in Canada and the United States in 2020. Google expanded the women-focused accelerator to India last year.
Featured image courtesy Google for Startups Accelerator.