Edu, cloud, transportation, gaming & entertainment sectors interest us: GM of Microsoft Ventures.
Microsoft Ventures, the platform that looks at building businesses, is planning to invest in start-ups in India. General manager and partner of Microsoft Ventures, Rahul Sood, says India is a key market as far as start-ups go.
“We are close to investing in a start-up in India. Today’s start-ups are tomorrow’s big enterprises. Start-ups in sectors like education, cloud, transportation, gaming and entertainment interest us.”
Sood adds that the company has a global fund that can make investments anywhere. “We have the technology muscle. Our strength is that as Microsoft, we have relations with several companies, including Fortune 500 companies. We can thus connect start-ups with customers, apart from helping them go through their business pitch and design,” says Sood, adding that they want to help Indian start-ups to build and scale up their businesses.
Microsoft runs its Accelerator programme for tech start-ups in Bangalore. It recently announced the opening of applications for its new batch for the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator programme.
The four-month programme, which will start from January 2014 and go on till May, is expected to provide technology entrepreneurs a platform to showcase their ideas before industry veterans, venture capitalists and angel investors.
Apart from access to Microsoft technology and mentors, start-ups will get to go through a rigorous and structured programme, where they can get hands-on expertise in key areas like technology architecture, product roadmap, design, business model development etc.
“We are looking for exceptional entrepreneurs who are building companies for India and the global markets. Our network of 150 mentors, along with our partners, will guide start-ups who are looking at making it big in cloud, internet, mobile and data analytics,” says Ravi Narayan, director, Microsoft Ventures in India.
Microsoft Ventures Accelerator hosts two batches a year—from July-November and January-May.
The winter batch of 2013, which is also the current batch of startups being accelerated at the facility, will graduate on November 29, 2013, with the next batch starting in January.
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