One of the world’s biggest software companies, Microsoft has partnered with the Indian technology consulting giant, Accenture to nurture the startup ecosystem in India. Microsoft Accelerator and Accenture Ventures made the announcement regarding their “ecosystem partnership”. The partnership is aimed at further strengthening the start-ups in the country. Microsoft is yet another company to enter into such a partnership, after TCS and Wipro.

Microsoft Accelerator and Accenture Ventures have partnered with each other in the past and are currently planning to focus primarily on growth stage technology startups in the B2B segment. The companies plan to concentrate on start-ups specialising in artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented/virtual reality, blockchain, fin-tech, big data, security and customer experience solutions, on a global level.

The partnership will enable startups in the country to deploy their solutions to a large number of clients in India and on a global level as well as improvise their business models. Microsoft Accelerator is a global programme created to support and empower start-ups and is present in 7 locations. Accenture Ventures, on the other hand, partners and invests in growth stage companies that are engaged in developing innovative enterprise technologies.

“The partnership with Accenture showcases our commitment to connect startups with large corporates and help them scale up to become successful businesses,” said Bala Girisaballa, Managing Director, Microsoft Accelerator.

The announcement of the ecosystem partnership was made at Microsoft Accelerator’s “ThinkNext 2018” event held in Bengaluru, which saw participation from over 400 business and industry leaders, startups, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. At the event, Microsoft Accelerator also announced the graduation of 14 startups from its 11th winter cohort. The startups that graduated are Clonect, Udaan, Ace Turtle, Simplilearn, MintM, Hotelgix, Docswallet, MegDap, GIEOM, i-exceed, KrypC , Liv.ai, VideoKen and Kata.AI.

Recently, the two companies had come together and collaborated with Avanade under a multi-year and multi-million dollar agreement to develop, integrate and market improved cyber-defence solutions to help clients accurately detect, investigate and respond to cyber threats.

“The need to work with growth startups emerges from our clients who want real problems to be solved. Microsoft and Accenture are both keen to add value to start-ups that are already startup ready,” added Bala Girisaballa.

Avnish Sabharwal, Managing Director, Accenture Ventures stated that although the partnership between the two companies is currently only for the Indian market, the companies are planning on eventually expanding the partnership on a global level as well. Furthermore, the two companies also plan on hosting numerous startup events and summits in India.

(Picture courtesy: softwareforsme.com)