The 12th annual accelerator welcomes ten tech nonprofits from around the world which are developing tech solutions to address society's most pressing issues
SAN FRANCISCO, March 6, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Fast Forward, an organization bridging the gap between the tech and social sectors by empowering nonprofits building tech for humanity, today announced the launch of its 12th annual Accelerator cohort. Nonprofits in the 2025 cohort are developing tech-enabled solutions to key global issues across health, climate, workforce development, poverty, and human rights.
The 2025 Accelerator saw a 54% increase in applications from the year prior. Of those who applied, just 2.5% were admitted. Driving this trend was a notable uptick in the geographical diversity of applicants. In total, the 2025 Accelerator received applications from 64 countries.
Many of these tech nonprofits are pioneers of AI for humanity with 44% of applicants reporting that they use the technology to serve beneficiaries. Another 68% of 2025 applicants leveraging AI for operational efficiency. AI is a core focus for Fast Forward, whose accelerator equips nonprofits with seed funding, tailored curriculum, mentorship, and technical support from its network of partners.
The final cohort is represented by ethnic, racial, and gender diversity and continues to have a focus on proximate founders. 70% of the founders have lived experience with the problem they're working to solve, which Fast Forward believes uniquely positions them to make a significant impact because they understand the communities they're serving. 80% of nonprofits in the 2025 cohort have a BIPOC founder, while 30% of founders are Black and 60% are women.
The upcoming 2025 Accelerator cohort is supported by Google.org; Bloomberg; Salesforce; Okta; Twilio.org; Arrow Impact; The Solid Foundation; Endless; Splunk, a Cisco company; Lemnis; New Relic; OpenAI; and GitHub.
Introducing the 2025 Cohort
Since 2014, Fast Forward's portfolio of 102 tech nonprofits have impacted more than 262M lives and these nonprofits have secured $1B in follow-on funding. Now, Fast Forward will welcome the following 10 organizations to its portfolio:
- Bayes Impact: AI case management solution helping social workers streamline care and scale impact.
- Clinic+O: Mobile app expanding fast, quality, and affordable primary health care in rural Guinea.
- Collective Intelligence Project: R&D building practical democratic systems to direct frontier AI toward collective benefit.
- Materiom: AI platform supporting the development of bio-based plastic alternatives.
- Project Own: Digital mortgage readiness tool closing the racial wealth gap for Black families.
- Scrutinize: Data analytics and research examining judicial decisions to promote accountability.
- trubel&co: EdTech platform empowering youth to disrupt social and environmental disparities using data and civics.
- VectorCam: AI-enabled mosquito surveillance system transforming malaria control in Africa.
- Violetta: AI chatbot fostering healthy relationship skills to eliminate gender-based violence.
- Visilant: Accessible AI-powered eye screenings eradicating avoidable blindness in India.
"We're humbled by the sheer number of applicants from all over the world," said Shannon Farley, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Fast Forward. "At Fast Forward, we're all about leveraging technology to help nonprofits deliver greater impact at scale. We're proud to support the next generation of nonprofits. We believe this work is more critical now than ever."
The 2025 Accelerator cohort will showcase their solutions at Fast Forward's annual Demo Day, which will occur in San Francisco in May and virtually in June.
About Fast Forward
Fast Forward brings the tech and nonprofit communities together to deploy tech to solve humanity's biggest challenges. Through its annual flagship Accelerator, Fast Forward equips a cohort of tech nonprofit startups with seed funding, mentorship, and community. Its portfolio includes 102 tech nonprofits across every issue area, which have impacted 262M lives and raised $1B in follow-on funding. Its AI for Humanity initiative further extends its mission by supporting AI-powered nonprofit leaders. With support from its partners, Fast Forward has invested $36M+ in philanthropic capital into tech nonprofits. Fast Forward's other programs and products include its Tech Nonprofit Job Board, Tech Nonprofit Directory, Pitch Camp, Tech Nonprofit Playbooks, What's Good in Tech newsletter, AI for Humanity newsletter, Funding Forward newsletter, and more. Based in San Francisco, the organization was founded in 2014 by seasoned entrepreneurs Kevin Barenblat and Shannon Farley. For more information visit www.ffwd.org.
Media Contact
Yasmeen Ahmed, Fast Forward, 1 (616) 560-7356, [email protected], https://www.ffwd.org/
SOURCE Fast Forward
Share this article