JOIN USMicrosoft Ventures graduates 6th batch
From over 1,400 applications, Microsoft Ventures, a global initiative to help entrepreneurs, picked 11 startups in February this year, and trained them for four months.
On Thursday, all the 11 startups that focus on IoT apps and payment platforms completed the four-month programme offered by Microsoft Ventures Accelerator.
Speaking about the programme which started in 2012, Microsoft Ventures’ Director Ravi Narayan described Thursday’s third Think Next 2015 event as their graduation day.
“This is the sixth batch of startups that we have trained, and this is the third edition of Think Next. Through this programme, we provide entrepreneurs a platform to accelerate their startups. The whole idea is to grow the company,” said Narayan.
Every six months, Microsoft Ventures conducts the programme and it has already begun receiving applications from this April for the seventh batch.
“We have built a portfolio of 74 startups with $5,00,000 average funding and four or five exits till date. We conducted a stakeholder development workshop during the programme which helped startups understand their respective customers and investors,” Ravi said. In 2014, Microsoft partnered with Reliance Industries for its accelerator programme, and it has also partnered with Nasscom’s 10,000 startups programme.
At Think Next 2015, Microsoft Ventures launched the new corporate engagement initiative ‘Innovation for Corporates (ICI)’ that aims to work with enterprises so that they could attain innovation-driven growth by engaging with startups. Ravi said, “Under this initiative, we are offering three programmes — Market Access Programme (MAP), which will bring startups and enterprises together; Partner in Acceleration (PIA), in which corporates will be allowed to leverage Microsoft Ventures’ knowhow and resources; and the Hi-Po programme that will work with top startups nominated by corporates,” he said.