Microsoft Accelerator sources funds for Bengaluru start-ups

In the last couple of years, Microsoft Accelerator has sourced financial support for 82 per cent of City’s start-ups working under it.

Microsoft Ventures Director Mukund Mohan told Deccan Herald that, 50 of the 60 start-ups have received funding from multiple quarters.

About 40 per cent of the start-ups work in the consumer segment, while the rest are business oriented. Of these four work with education, three focus on healthcare and five fall under e-commerce.

“We follow a policy of zero equity dilution to start-ups. Microsoft takes no percentage ownership of the company in exchange for our work, support and investments,” said Mohan.

A special feature of Microsoft Accelerator is to provide customer access, which is not so readily available with other accelerators. Under its customer access programme it connects start-ups with customers world-wide.

Right from identifying and working with key investors, Microsoft provides technological support, along with guidance in the legal, accounting, design and management domains.

While Microsoft feels that the Accelerator programme has been well-received so far, Bengaluru is competing with other Accelerator world cities like Beijing, London, Paris, Seattle and Tel Aviv, Israel.

Bengaluru is seen as the start-up capital of India, especially in the domain of technology with 40 per cent of the county’s tech start-ups emerging here. Delhi, on the other hand, is considered the number one location for e-commerce and consumer start-ups.

The Bengaluru Accelerator is set to expand the programme with better infrastructure, providing start-ups with a niche space to hone global skills. Though Microsoft has been involved with start-ups for over a decade, their support has intensified over the past three years.

Why the sudden interest? Start-ups, Mohan believes, are where new ideas and new technologies take shape. “The start-ups are already part of the mainstream world economy and will define its contours in the immediate future. Microsoft has to be a part of that change. India has a five million-strong developer community, and Microsoft understands they are integral to technological development and change. We want a visible footprint among the emerging technological hots,” he shared.

The special interest in India is because it adopts and absorbs new technology rapidly, which, therefore attracts funders. “You know when you deploy a technology in India, it is understood and absorbed very fast. So working with such an intelligent community is not just tempting, but relevant. It is a market,” said Mohan.

A good number of start-ups are targeting not only the Indian market, but the global market as well. “That’s big thinking. It means you will make products not only for India but ones that a global market will absorb,” he added.