Múkami wanted to empower girls and non-binary individuals to pursue their dreams in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) after watching her daughter playing mobile games. She realized that challenges in mental health, self esteem and limiting beliefs are disproportionately impacting girls, particularly those from underserved communities — a fact which might put them off pursuing careers in this field. This inspired her to create Royelles: a game anchored in fierce female avatars, like a global peace ambassador named Mara on her first mission to Mars which is voiced by an actual NASA scientist. She's excited to release more empowering gamified stories and learning modules, and a range of extended reality and AI-powered avatars based on the game’s characters.

During her transition, Cherry had a lot of questions she struggled to find answers to. This inspired her to create TheTransMe: a space where transgender people can come together, make supportive friends and have their queries answered. It also allows them to post their transition journey, connect with doctors for medical advice and share their location to facilitate real-life meet-ups. A self-taught web designer and programmer, Cherry coded the app herself with help from a close group of tech-savvy, creative friends. In the future, she hopes to increase the reach of the platform and support more trans individuals across the globe.

When her university friend needed an urgent blood transfusion but discovered there was none available in the bank, Leonika became aware of the blood donation shortage in Indonesia. Intent on saving patients’ lives, Leonika built Reblood: an app where people can find their nearest donation site and blood testing center. To date, an impressive 140,000 blood donations have been made using the network. But this is just the beginning for the app; a recently added feature allows people to find the most affordable medical checkups, marking the first in a series of upcoming tools aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles for blood donors.

While completing their Masters in Entrepreneurship, friends Mathilde, Jane and Hahyeon became aware of how taboo menopause was in France and how little information was available on the subject. This inspired them to create Omena: an app providing women with expert advice and wellness programs for managing the symptoms of menopause. Alongside the app, the trio also launched a podcast aimed at building a community and reducing loneliness among menopausal women. They recently added a tool where users can book phone consultations and buy symptom-managing products through the app. Looking to the future, the next step for the founders is to take Omena international.

As young parents, Vinit and his wife wished there were vetted, personalized resources to help guide them through pregnancy and birth. He felt motivated to create Mylo: a one-stop solution app providing new and soon-to-be parents with advice and support from top doctors, experts and other women who are in a similar journey as parents. Whilst built for all parents, mothers advocating for Mylo helped Vinit tailor the app to their needs through their lived experience, honest feedback, and powerful stories. Now, with the trust of over 9 million users and the support of a community of mothers behind him, Vinit wants to take this vital app further and go international.

Luciane was devastated when she lost her son in a car accident. Trying to spare others the same tragedy, she began driving her son’s friends and other young people safely home from clubs and parties in Santa Rosa. This eventually inspired her and her husband Renato to create Carsul, an urban mobility app with an emphasis on safety and security. Carsul also partners with a government health program chauffeuring sick patients long distances to big hospitals. Transforming the pain of the past into something that protects others has helped Luciane find peace. Next, she and the team are planning to expand into more cities in Brazil and protect more lives from road accidents.

After witnessing the strong straightening chemicals used in his sisters’ hair treatments, Bahia native Cledilson saw an opportunity to both celebrate and help maintain healthy curly hair. With a mission to empower women, he dedicated years of study and working to raise funds for his app, Hair Empowerment. The app offers a wide range of tips and advice, with personalized schedules and routines to help its community of women feel confident with their hair. With the help of his sisters and his partner who love the app, Cledilson plans to develop other beauty titles including for skin and nailcare.

As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, Lily became aware from a young age the impact our lifestyles and the products we use can have on our health. Using her career background in art direction and digital marketing, Lily created Think Dirty— an app that demystifies the labels of cosmetics products and identifies potentially harmful ingredients with a simple scan of a barcode. Through the app, Lily is helping guide the change of the clean beauty movement in North America. Next, she aims to support consumers in making better-informed choices across the world by expanding into Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Spoken word artist Diata haș been working to support victims of violence for 20 years. After hearing the stories of young people who had experienced abuse that was similar to her own, she was inspired to create App-Elles: a title that allows women and girls to send out alerts when they’re in danger. Her app connects them to professionals and NGOs that can support them. As part of her organization, Resonantes, Diata also runs writing and recording workshops to help victims overcome their experiences with violence. Next, Diata hopes to continue to reach more vulnerable people with the app and connect the platform to wearables, like watches, to make sending out an alert more discreet.

When Geraldo was seven, his mom changed careers from civil engineering to computer science. Watching her work left him in awe, and he started his first tech company at 16. Geraldo also has a passion for music. His app Moises uses AI to remove voices and instruments from any video or audio file. Guitarists can take out the guitar part to play along; singers can remove vocals to make a karaoke track. Geraldo wants to empower anyone to be creative without needing expensive equipment, and make Moises as essential as instruments for musicians of all levels.

Former colleagues at an investment bank, Solape and Yomi noticed how the lack of accessible financial services for Nigerian women was worsening gender inequality - so they set out on a mission to change it. Their app HerVest empowers women through offering saving and investment tips, financial education and access to capital. The app is geared especially toward farmers and micro entrepreneurs, who can grow their small businesses with access to credit and financial support on the platform. Their ultimate goal is to bridge the gender gap in Nigeria and reach 1 million women by the end of 2024.

Sometimes a spinoff is more successful than the original, and for app founders Rita, João and Martim, that’s exactly what happened. The university friends first launched the recipe sharing app SaveCook, and later released the accompanying app, Super Save, to help people compare supermarket prices and find the best deals on ingredients. In the midst of rising inflation, the app was an instant success and gained major media attention. Next, Super Save will help shoppers save more with a new barcode scanner that can tell people where to get a product for less.

When Kenny won a tablet in a university programming competition, he and his twin brother Jeromy became inspired to create their own tech company. After several years of experimenting and brainstorming, the pair - who are also keen marathon runners - decided to channel their passion for self-care, mental wellness and productivity into the journaling platform, Journey. People can record their self-improvement goals using diary templates and prompts. Their coach program also guides individuals through personal issues, like self love and building healthy relationships. Next, they hope to get more coaches on board to create the best one-stop self-care platform, helping people become the best version of themselves.

Australian Chris and German-Egyptian Rene first met as youngsters in kindergarten. Years later, after graduating university, the old friends reconnected over their shared interest in startups. As expats in Dubai, the pair were aware of how disconnected a lot of communities are. This inspired them to create the social networking platform Hayi حي – or "my neighborhood" in Arabic – where people can share information with their neighbors, find help within the community and connect with those living nearby. Local businesses can also use the platform to offer discounts for locals. They've recently partnered with local government authorities and real-estate developers to post district alerts, and are adding channels for connecting people via shared hobbies such as art or sports. Passionate about sustainability, the duo also plan on launching social initiatives and more community environmental projects soon.

Keen horse riders Ingrid, Totta and Erika love connecting with other equestrians. But while there were plenty of other sporting apps for tracking activity and learning, they couldn't find similar apps for riding. Undaunted, the three enthusiasts quit their jobs and combined their experience in marketing, programming and economics to create Ridely, giving an online voice and training platform to the equestrian community. As well as partnering with the US Equestrian Federation, they’re creating expert programs, monthly riding challenges and want to build a social feed for horse riders.

It was while working with business owners and tech founders in private equity that Rina caught the entrepreneurial bug. Noticing how rapidly the gaming industry was growing, she hopped on the trend to create content specifically for a Turkish audience. Her first game studio became a tech unicorn which was acquired by another company, and she continued her winning streak in launching Spyke Games with her brother Remi and friends Mithat, Barkin and Fuat. The team focus on blending fun, social multiplayer games with skill-based problem-solving. In Tile Busters, players collaborate and compete with their friends to pave tiles in complex patterns and build cities in a magical realm. Next, they’re looking forward to releasing a new game in the Busters franchise: Blitz Busters.

As a teenager, Diori loved developing his own games. So it's no surprise he went on to pursue a career as a game programmer in adulthood. While working at a tech company, he and colleague Agung hit it off and decided to collaborate on their own project together — launching their own studio, Minimo, shortly after. Inspired by Agung's passions for cars and mechanics, their first release was Mini Racing Adventures which features 65 unique vehicles for players to rally across tough terrain. The adventurous racing game went on to have huge success with over 10 million downloads. Looking to the future, they're open to venturing into new genres, with a shooter game currently in the works.

Friends Pablo, Gonzalo and Alvaro had a dream of making games for a living and created their own studio in 2010. Charged with a lot of passion and hard work, they tried their chances in the Web Gaming community at first, before quickly transitioning to mobile - teaching themselves to code for these devices from scratch in record time. One of lronhide Game Studio's most popular titles, Kingdom Rush: Tower Defence, was inspired by their passion for strategy games and made unique thanks to its medieval flair and fierce, action battles. Next, they hope to develop multiplayer games and continue to expand their Kingdom Rush series.

When native Brazilian Juliana moved to Singapore with her husband and their 6-month-old daughter, she struggled to start her baby on solids using the baby-led weaning approach. Unable to find adequate resources to guide her, she decided to create her own platform BLW Brasil (in Portuguese), where she could share everything she had learned. Parents love how the app, which also has Spanish (BLW Ideas) and English (BLW Meals) versions, eases the mental load of managing their child's feeding journey - with many of them actively participating in the BLW community on social media. Recently, Juliana and her team added a feature to the BLW Brasil app that allows direct communication with a nutritionist, ensuring that parents always have access to expert advice.

Back in 2012 brothers Ilan and Edison, and their friend Nastassja, headed a company that used augmented reality to create interactive advertisements in their home country Venezuela. But noticing how much children loved watching their commercials inspired them to change path and focus on AR as an educational tool for young kids. After applying for a startup accelerator program, they moved to Chile and launched PleIQ - an early learning platform that uses AR to bring textbooks and educational games to life with immersive 3D content. The app is tailored to the local curriculum and even features virtual tutors. Their goal is to provide technology and resources across Latin America with plans to expand into Mexico and Colombia soon.

When mechanical engineer Harry got sick with long Covid following a mild infection in 2020, his life drastically changed as he found himself unable to do the adventurous, athletic activities he always enjoyed. Alarmed by how little treatment and support was available for the condition, he teamed up with friend and tech lawyer, Luke, to create Visible. Their goal is to empower patients to monitor their health based on daily activities and nutrition, and share data to drive improved understanding of the illness. Soon, the pair hope to add AI insights to better read people’s health data, and a social network feature for patients to share their recovery journeys.

During lockdown, Nikhil’s mother dedicated her time to different hobbies like cooking. Watching his mum scour the internet for recipes and techniques, Nikhil and his wife Ayushi realized there was no educational platform specifically for women in India. This gave them the idea for Alippo: an app where women can upskill and start their own businesses, with classes and study materials on everything from handicrafts to cosmetics. Nikhil’s mother is an avid user of the app, continuing to hone her cooking skills. Next, the couple want to provide women with raw materials for their businesses and even offer financing.

Yoshihiko is determined to live his life with purpose and wants his mountaineering app YAMAP to make a difference. After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, he was inspired to bring people closer to nature and save lives. Despite having no programming experience, he and his team created a platform which enables mountaineers to safely check their location and share their climb activity logs, even when there’s no phone signal. The app has become very popular with climbers, who have also formed a YAMAP community. Yoshihiko recently partnered with the local government to aid mountain rescues, wants to keep enhancing the app's safety features and continues to promote the joy of mountain climbing to the world.

Victoria and her husband Michail had dreamed of making games since their childhood. This dream became a reality after teaming up with Michail's brother Sergej during university, developing their first game and using the profits to launch their own company, Nordcurrent, soon after. One of their most popular titles is Cooking Fever where players race against the clock to cook meals for restaurant customers. People enjoy the fast pace and wide range of cuisine, which even includes medieval dishes. Recently, the team added a pancake flipping restaurant as well as live events to celebrate annual festivities, such as Valentine’s day and Pride.

Young-Gon first joined a gaming company during the PC game boom two decades ago. However in 2017, he decided to take the leap and launch his own studio, Nexelon, determined to reach a global audience with mobile games. One of his most popular titles, Fishing Life, was inspired by his own passion for the pastime. He wanted to recreate the relaxation and tranquility of hobbyist fishing, with soothing sounds and calming natural scenery. Soon, Nexelon are releasing a new title - this time sci-fi-themed - where players mine resources on other planets to help cleanse the polluted Earth.

Growing up, Johanes wanted to be an author as he loved creating new worlds in his imagination. It was this desire to tell stories that first drew him to role-playing games, eventually inspiring him to develop his own. Teaming up with graphic artist Meiky — whom he met on a social media page for developers — the pair created the anime-style combat and fantasy romance game Epic Conquest. It was a big hit with thousands of downloads in the first week, encouraging the pair to take it further with its sequel Epic Conquest 2. Next, fans can look forward to a new installment of the series with the upcoming release of the saga's next chapter.

Tessa and Saasha met when studying business. Both ex-consultants, they are passionate about the environment and recycling. The idea for Olio came when Tessa was moving: she could not pack leftover food in air-freight, and could not find anyone to take it. The app began helping people give away (and get) spare food in their neighborhood, but they recently launched a feature for lending and borrowing household items too. It is now used in 62 countries, and Olio also partners with supermarkets and restaurants with their volunteers collecting and redistributing surplus food – an estimated 1 million meals per week.

While many of Ed's family members have diabetes, he was always struck by how well his grandma managed her condition. He soon realized this was because she kept close track of her blood sugar levels and frequently showed the notes to her doctor, giving Ed the idea for a digital data tracker for people with diabetes. Partnering with product manager Ken - whose mother also has diabetes - and former colleague Erin, he launched Health2Sync. The app helps people with diabetes to track their blood glucose, diet, exercise, and medication while receiving tips for managing the disease. They've recently added an AI-based food recognition feature and released an Arabic version for the Middle East. Next, they plan to expand to Australia and Korea.

Both Lorenzo and César lost their mothers to cancer. While Lorenzo's family had access to the best doctors and private clinics, César's mother relied on the public health sector and lived 60 kilometers away from the nearest hospital. When they met through a mutual friend and exchanged experiences, they realized how tiring hospital visits often are for cancer patients. This inspired them to create WeCancer: a comprehensive cancer treatment support platform, where patients can receive virtual at-home medical care, advice and round-the-clock monitoring. Working in partnership with hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, they now want to make their interface light enough for all phones as well as expand into other Latin American countries.

Laura, Erich and John have all experienced chronic pain in their lives, which was what bonded them as work colleagues and friends. Under John’s lead, the trio began practicing various alternative therapeutic techniques to reduce their pain and over time saw their conditions improve. Empowered and inspired, they wanted to share what they’d learned, combining their skill sets to launch Curable. The app offers a guided recovery program for chronic pain sufferers, using a wide range of science-backed techniques including cognitive behavioral therapy and meditation. They recently launched a subscription plan for healing video workshops, and are continuously working toward their goal of helping as many people as possible get relief from persistent pain.

After a successful sports journalism career, Maria wanted to build something inspired by growing up as a Latina in rural North Dakota. She teamed up with her mom AnnMaria, a teacher and computer programmer, and software developer Dennis, to set up 7 Generation Games. They make educational apps – in English, Spanish and indigenous languages – to improve math skills of Hispanic and Native American children. Making Camp Ojibwe is a village-building simulation where players earn points by answering math and social studies questions. Research has shown that children who played their games have improved their math scores 3 times more than students that haven't. The trio aims to keep expanding and reach even more teachers and students in underserved communities.

Yiwei started his career as a web designer, but as a keen gamer himself he soon transitioned into game development and launched his own studio Kurechii. As he watched busy commuters in Tokyo playing on their phone while carrying their briefcases, he got the idea to create a game that could be played single-handedly, but still feature adventurous role playing. In Postknight, players follow a knight as he makes dangerous journeys across the kingdom of Kurestal to deliver parcels. After releasing the popular sequel Postknight 2 with brand new characters, the team are now working to enhance both games, as well as brainstorm ideas for new titles.

Growing up around his father's video store and a huge collection of science magazines, Olivier was exposed to technology from an early age. So it's no surprise that he studied computer science and soon began creating PC games. Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, he was able to release the African fantasy RPG, Aurion. Partly inspired by Japanese manga, the game is an allegory for geopolitical themes, with players following the King and Queen of Zama as they fight corruption in Aurion. Next, he hopes to add multiplayer options and chat features to make the game more interactive, and transform Aurion into a global African-fantasy gaming brand.

Born in Uruguay, Valeria moved to Spain as a child. Her parents loved video games so she grew up playing them with her family. After studying computer science and traveling the world with her PR job, she transitioned into game development and launched her own studio, Platonic Games, with friend and co-founder Álvaro. Noticing that games for girls were often limited to a handful of genres, the pair decided to design something new for a female audience. Happy Hop is an addictive racing game featuring kawaii-inspired “Miimo” characters. Next, the team wants to attract other demographics to their games and reach a wider audience.

Growing up, Singapore-based Jaron struggled to embrace his sexuality. But after moving to London to study, he began accepting himself after coming out to his parents and starting therapy. This experience inspired him to create Voda - a mental health app that offers the LGBTQ+ community the kind of mental health support he wished he'd had for his younger self. Built with co-founder Kris, who he met at an accelerator, the app offers guided therapy programmes, designed and led by a team of psychotherapists and mental health experts. In the future, the pair wants to go global and continue to support individuals struggling with their sexual or gender identity.

Kate had a harsh upbringing, so as a form of escapism she would spend time reprogramming her favorite games. A corporate career in tech followed, but she was dismissed soon after coming out as transgender and found herself coding websites to get by. It was while reflecting on how difficult and isolating her gender transition had been that she got the inspiration for her first app, Solace: a platform designed to help transgender individuals plan their transition and support them through the legal, medical and social steps. Other apps followed and she now wants to merge all of them under Bliss, currently a banking app for the transgender community, and make it a one-stop support platform.

While working on cruise liners, Shivam's friend and shipmate confided in him about the struggles of finding companionship as a gay person due to catfishing, scams and safety fears. This stuck with Shivam, and inspired him to develop the LGBTQ+ dating app Glii, with co-founders Ankur and Rohit. Via the platform, matches can book a gay-friendly restaurant for their first date and, thanks to AI verification, know for a fact they're meeting a real person. People feel loud, proud and empowered on Glii, and they're spreading the love even further with plans to expand into Thailand and South East Asia soon.

Ania had always been incredibly confident. But suddenly, as a student at the age of 22, she couldn't go for a walk or meet friends due to panic attacks. She sought help from books but couldn't understand why these resources weren't available on an app. This journey led her to create Rootd - Anxiety & Panic Relief with guided lessons, breathing tools, and exercises. Ania wants to make the app - now available in 10 different languages - one of the most widely used tools to overcome panic and anxiety in the world.

With hotelier and restaurateur parents, Valentin grew up learning about the challenges of the hospitality sector. As he was a better programmer than a cook, he decided to not join the industry. But at 22 - whilst successfully working abroad - he felt his life was lacking purpose. Valentin went back to his hometown and, after hearing his parents had troubles with hiring, created a hospitality recruitment app with co-founders Tobias and Juan. When Covid hit however, Gronda transformed into a platform for chefs to share and monetize their recipes, inspiring other culinary lovers. Next, Gronda wants to help ambitious chefs worldwide unleash their full potential.

As a child, David’s mother always told him he’d become a programmer. And he did, but it was his other passion, music, that led to Zoomerang. After uploading his music online, David got limited views because his video editing wasn’t engaging. So, along with co-founders Arman and Hayk, he created a platform where content creators could get editing templates for their videos, allowing thousands to grow their brand and vivify their content. Now, they want to become the number one video template marketplace and a major social media platform.

When Rama and her friend and co-founder Lamia had their first boys, they struggled to find resources to teach their little ones Arabic. So, they utilized their background in film production and started making children’s videos in Arabic in their backyards. When they held a screening at a local cinema, over 500 parents and children came to watch it, and they had to screen it multiple times. A few years later and the content is now digitized in a series of apps used in schools of 10 countries. The most popular, I Read Arabic, has educational videos, books, games, and a dashboard for teachers to track students' progress. To date they reach 800 private and public schools in ten countries and hope to reach even more soon.

When Prakash's sister passed away, his nieces longed to hear her voice again and keep her memory alive. When his father died, he felt the same and regretted not having all his photos and messages in one place. This inspired Prakash and his co-founders to create ForKeeps: a platform for preserving a person's legacy with photo albums, stories, and voice messages — everything he'd wished for his dad and sister. Through the app, people can feel their loved one’s presence after they're gone. The Forever Album tool also allows the audience to share and celebrate special occasions in real time. Now Prakash's goal is to help more people across different cultures around the world record memories for their loved ones.

Anshul, Meet and Harsh became friends and shared an apartment while working for a startup. Even after years living together, Anshul wasn't aware that Meet used to stutter. Meet explained he had bought various medical books and taught himself some speech therapy exercises to overcome the disorder. After this conversation, the trio decided to spread their knowledge and create Stamurai. The app was built for their own benefit but has been helping thousands of people worldwide. They are now working on adding more languages and more exercises for other speech disorders.

Bria worked for some big names in the tech world, but wanted to start her own company based around what brings her joy. Bubble tea was something she always associated with good times with friends, and wanted to encapsulate that same feeling in Boba Story. In her game, players have to restore an old boba shop by designing the decor and a drinks menu, to serve bubble tea to cute characters inspired by Japanese anime. She recently added a garden with beekeeping to harvest honey, as well as a host of new boba flavours, teas and magic ingredients. A keen cook and baker herself, Bria hopes to release more cuisine-themed games in the future.

As a child, Lauren played video games to distract her from the pain of chronic ear infections. She discovered games can be a healing experience for people — a sentiment she dedicated her career to. Intent on building a game that promoted wellbeing for women, she partnered with engineer Christina to make Kinder World: Cozy Plants. Players grow houseplants and perform wellbeing activities, like gratitude journaling and box breathing exercises. The concept was inspired by how popular taking care of plants became during quarantine. Next, the pair want to add multiplayer features like communal art projects and vegetable plots so players can work together and build a community.

Despite having no tech background, Jelena was invited to set up one of the first gaming studios in the country while she was working as head of HR at a software development company. Now, 3Hills has become a pioneer of the mobile gaming industry in Montenegro. Their debut was Starblind, an endless adventure in outer space where players explore the universe and face UFOs. 3Hills also operates a tech academy that provides free game development and design skills training to developers and artists. Although they are just at the beginning of their journey, the team is passionate about inspiring others, helping people take their first steps in mobile gaming and app design.

Born and raised in Salvador, Filipe was inspired by the city's cultural heritage so he studied history, becoming a teacher and researcher. One day, he realized games could be a powerful medium to share Brazilian history and culture with the world. So, together with his business partner Victor, he founded Aoca Game Lab. Now as a team of eight people, they created their first title, Árida: Backland's Awakening, a survival game featuring the adventures of a young girl in the historic city of Canudos. It's been translated into 6 languages as they plan to reach millions. Aoca Game Lab took part in the Indie Games Accelerator and have also been selected to receive the Indie Games Fund. With the help from these Google Play programs, they will take the game and studio to the next level.

Clara runs a longevity clinic in rural Valencia where people learn to live a longer, healthier life. She knew this powerful knowledge could go far beyond her little village, so she teamed up with her husband Juan and his university friend David to found healthtech startup Hearts Radiant. Their app, Rosita, provides seniors long-term physical and mental health plans. With mentorship and support from the Google for Startups Growth Academy program, Hearts Radiant just launched in the US, where Clara hopes to continue scaling the company and pioneering health technology.

Growing up in the small village of San Antonio de Litín, Noel was a teenager with no internet access when he first got his hands on a book about computer programming. Fast forward a few years later and he’s travelling the world, working remotely as a software developer. When he discovered he’d missed a beautiful viewing point in Italy, he got the idea for NoFilter - an app compiling the best photography spots around the world. Next, Noel wants to launch more features for customized trip planning and offer travellers options to go carbon neutral.

Top students Amiraslan and Orkhan met when they spontaneously teamed up at their university programming competition — and won. A series of tandem hackathons and coding all-nighters later and the pair launched Oxuyan (“scholar” in Azerbaijani), a platform for publishing exams and testing knowledge. Education had been a ticket to so much opportunity for Amiraslan, including studying abroad and travelling Europe, so his motivation was to make learning accessible to everyone. With new students joining everyday, sharing their scores on social media and a chat interface in the works, more and more young people are getting the access to the education they deserve.

Sam had a successful career in game development. He comes from a family of doctors, and one day his dad asked him to create a game to train medical professionals. Sam built it over a few weekends, published it and forgot about it. Two years later, he discovered it had been used by 100,000 medical professionals, and studies showed it improved their performance. His company Level Ex now makes games to accelerate specialist skills, from cardiology to anesthesia. In 2021, they launched Top Derm, which educates in recognizing disease on skin of color.

Inspired by the 90s video games he played as a child, Xin knew exactly what game he wanted to create. The studio didn't quite have the money to fund it though, so it launched a crowdfunding campaign to help develop Pixel Starships. The game was completed using the money raised from the community. After years working in corporate tech, the move to designing and making games is something Xin has never looked back on. Millions of downloads later, his five-year-old child acts as a mini developer giving him feedback, and a sequel is now on the way.

Liene often braves the big outdoors and discovers what nature has to offer - so much so, that she organizes team-building, orienteering based games for her team at work. Seeing their joy as they explore the world around them inspired her to create Roadgames. It guides players through adventurous scavenger hunts, discovering new terrain and unexplored destinations. Recently, augmented reality was added to give the game another immersive dimension. In the future, Liene has big ambitions to go global and share new adventures across the world.

As a chemistry student, Marko was never really interested in tech - then he received his first computer and everything changed. He quit his degree to focus on his new passion and now, owns his successful studio Peaksel with over 480 million downloads. One of their most popular titles is 100 Doors Games: School Escape, with over 100 levels to challenge the minds of even the most experienced players.

When Gijs and Eefje embarked on a journey across Europe in their camper van, finding the best spots to park up for the night wasn't easy. So Gijs taught himself to code, and with the marketing expertise of Eefje, they launched Campy. The app acts as a digital camping encyclopedia, helping travellers search, find and filter places to stay across the continent. The couple's ultimate goal is to help the community of motorhome and camping enthusiasts discover the beauty of Europe.

Cristian was the first of his family to go to university. During his studies, he had the idea to create an app for waste pickers - people that collect reusable materials and sell them to recycling centres - to make their lives easier. Instead of digging through waste bins, they can use Reciclapp to connect with local businesses and collect their waste for re-selling. With 3,000 pickups per month across Chile, the company has now expanded to Mexico. Next, Cristian plans to add more services to the app like repairs and cleaning, helping more people make a sustainable income.

When Kennedy and Duke saw their father's company fail, they saw the impact poor bookkeeping can have on a small business. After meeting with other business owners across Nigeria, they were inspired to create an accounting app to revolutionize, modernize and simplify bookkeeping. Their dream is for Kippa to one day become a one-stop shop for all business finance needs, empowering entrepreneurs all across Africa.

Kelly loves studying languages, and Mikk is into tech. While living abroad, they wanted to find a way to keep their sons connected to their Estonian heritage. They combined their passions, and along with relatives Madde and Reimo, created ALPA Kids - a mobile language game for Estonian children. After achieving several awards, they've now expanded to include the languages of Ukraine and India, with the ultimate goal of including as many languages as possible. They have also recently received funds to invest in artificial intelligence, to develop customised games based on each child's individual skills and ability.

In college, friends Vladimir, Boris and Tomislav had a dream to one day own a games studio. Fast-forward 10 years and they're now the proud founders of Pine Studio. Their game, Cats in Time – a puzzle where players need to find and save cats – was the first title they independently published. For every 100,000 cats saved in the game, 10kg of cat food is donated to shelters in Zagreb. They took part in Google Play's Indie Games Accelerator in 2021. Next, they plan to release more levels and a new game, Escape Simulator.

When Aldo visited an escape room in Lima, he was so impressed with the design that he wanted to work with the owner, Sandro, to bring escape rooms to the virtual world. They joined forces to create The Girl in the Window, followed by other thrilling and chilling games. The stories take place in Hidden Town, with plot twists and jump scares to complement Sandro’s macabre artwork. The studio, Dark Dome, fulfills their wish to combine games with storytelling and art. Looking forward, the duo have more games in the works and are fine-tuning their processes to release sequels even quicker.

Anica and Kristijan love music and dance, and first met in a club where Kristijan was DJing. Music has always been an important part of their lives and Kristijan wanted to get the best sound quality on mobile. He put his coding skills to use and created Music Volume EQ. The app gives people control over the music on their phone with an equalizer, bass booster, and 3D virtualizer to simulate different acoustic environments. Dub Studio Productions is a family business. The parents' passion for music and technology inspired one of their sons, who is now a budding musician and game developer.

It was a broken-down car which led to entrepreneurs Annabel and Patrick’s lightbulb moment. Stuck on the roadside in Nairobi, they couldn’t find a mechanic to fix their car quickly. They realised people need an easy way to find local businesses and trusted service providers. So, despite having no tech background, they created their app Ziada. Their on-demand service marketplace is growing in downloads - and with a predominantly female workforce offering mentorship to young women - they're taking the Kenyan gig economy by storm.

A fan of sneakers and streetwear, George would constantly search online for new limited editions. He decided at the age of just 16 to teach himself to code and launch Droplist. The app shows all upcoming special collections from major labels – plus where and how to get them. George spent hours in his bedroom working on the app without telling anyone, until his parents asked where his money was coming from. George now works directly with brands, has added a new restock alert feature, and built a community of people passionate about streetwear.

With years of experience in academic online language-learning, Robert entered the consumer market in 2020 with his company Bluebird Languages. A former teacher, he understands how to structure a lesson, and his interval–recall and pronunciation methods help to simulate traditional classes. Spanning 164 languages, from Hungarian to Haitian Creole, Bluebird apps offer over 6 million hours of audio lessons featuring native speakers. Robert has recently added features such as quizzes and voice analysis, and continues to keep the company small and personal despite its huge reach.

Keerti has loved cricket since she was a kid. And while studying for her MBA, she played mobile games as a way to relax and free her mind. It was during college when Keerti met her now husband and co-founder, Kashyap. They used their life savings to combine Keerti's passions and build Hitwicket Cricket Games in 2015, when the mobile gaming industry was just beginning to boom in India. Their games offer immersive experiences, enjoyed by fans worldwide. Next, the company plans to launch Hitwicket World Cup, a mobile esports cricket competition.

Arnaud is a computer scientist with a passion for artificial intelligence (AI). He originally created Akinator as a side project to experiment with AI tools. Now, it's his company's (Elokence) most popular game - featuring a genius who 'reads people's minds' and accurately guesses the name of a celebrity, character or historical figure. Launching only in French, it's now available in 16 languages. Arnaud believes the popularity of the game is due to audience collaboration, as users can add their own data. The company is now working on an app that will recommend movies based on people's answers and preferences.

Daigo has always loved to play Japanese RPG (role-playing games), and considers himself a mix of software engineer, artist and storyteller. He worked for several game studios but couldn’t creatively express himself. When he felt it was time to make his own games, he started his indie company. Odencat builds pixel art games that bring an emotional, immersive experience as Daigo personally writes many of the rich storylines. He has won three Google Play Indie Games Festival awards.

Whenever Melissa wanted to travel with her dog Rocco, she struggled to find hotels that would accept him. She had to call round each one to ask about their pet policy. Once, she almost missed a friend’s wedding when she and Rocco were not welcomed at a nearby hotel – and had to stay an hour away from the venue. That day, Melissa decided to create a pet-friendly travel database, which later became BringFido. The app lists pet-friendly hotels, restaurants and dog parks, with over half a million approved venues around the world.

Hand Talk Translator began in 2012 as a university project for Ronaldo. He teamed up with Carlos, who was learning app development, and Thadeu, a 3D animator. Together they created the winning prototype for a start-up contest. Eventually, it became an app where people can type or speak a sentence and Hugo – a friendly animated character – signs it back in American or Brazilian sign language. Among other accolades, it was elected World’s Best Social App by the UN. Next, the team are working on a model that recognizes sign language via a phone’s camera.

Couple Ina and Jonas met at university - both have computer science backgrounds and love to travel. In 2016, while planning a 6-month trip through Southeast Asia, they needed a way to make their money last but couldn’t find the right tool to help. So, as Jonas had experience in developing apps, they decided to create TravelSpend. It helps people travel on a budget by tracking expenses, sharing and syncing budgets, and showing spend in local currencies automatically converted. Their passion for exploring also inspired them to launch Roadie, a route planner app for campers and roadtrippers.

Zuzanna is an art historian who truly believes art can lighten up anyone’s day. Ten years ago, she worked for startups and found herself surrounded by coders and app designers. Inspired by their work and passion, Zuzanna had the idea to create DailyArt. The app shows people a masterpiece each morning, accompanied by a bite-sized story. She wants to make art accessible and enticing for everyone, and it’s now available in 21 languages. Zuzanna is planning a 10th anniversary redesign - plus two new features: Spotlight, showing collections around a theme, and City Guides to accompany people traveling.

At age six, Alyssa loved playing mobile dress-up games but struggled to find characters that looked like her. Her mum, Yvonne, wanted Alyssa to embrace her natural look with confidence and, despite not having any prior experience creating games, suggested they create their own. Frobelles is a game to style the hair, clothes and accessories of three sisters – Coco, Kelli and Krista – and swap finished looks on social media. It celebrates hair styles from their African and Caribbean heritage, like up-dos, locs and protective twists. Alyssa is now 10 and has many new ideas. Next, they’re planning an Afro-anime collection and adding boy characters.