'Microsoft is ready to share its resources with startups'

Microsoft Ventures is looking at opportunities to work with Indian startups to share its resources with them, in a bid to bring solutions for Indian companies with a global vision out of the country, said Microsoft Ventures India Director Ravi Narayan.

Speaking at the graduation function of 11 technology startups from the fifth batch of the Accelerator programme, he said that India is one of the fastest growing economies, and the startup ecosystem in the country is second-to-none.

“We are here to stay and proactively partner with these startups which are evolving slowly. We will help them overcome challenges and mentor them. Here, the wide experience of Microsoft tools and customer experience will enhance value in their growth,” Narayan said. Talking about the fifth batch, he said that the batch had made considerable progress during the four months with Microsoft Ventures. “Seven of the 11 startups have closed deals with clients outside India. Overseas VCs and investors are showing keen interest in our startups. It is really heartening to see how our efforts are paying off in helping our startups get recognised at a global level,” he said.

Microsoft has established Microsoft Ventures in 7 locations globally. They are located at Seattle, London, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Beijing and Bengaluru. Since its inception two years back, it has graduated 63 startups. Microsoft Venture Global Accelerators head Tzahi Weisfeld said that the pace of progress in the startup ecosystem is pretty exciting in Bengaluru.

“To improve entrepreneur ecosystem throughout the world, we should have a right set of people with vision. Every startup ecosystem is unique in opportunities, challenges, culture and therefore, in its level of maturity,” he said.

He pointed out that some very interesting ideas are emerging from India, which startups in US or Israel would never have perceived as businesses worth pursuing.

Harshit Agarwal, CEO and co-founder of Appknox, an app security and testing software development company incubated at the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator programme said that the environment gave a final shape to his ideas.

“I am cherishing my time spent at this programme. It really opened up my mind to the new challenges in the app testing industry. I would like to take my company leaps and bounds in the coming years. I would like to associate with this programme to share my ideas with other startups,” he said.