Microsoft has been actively supporting startups in India and globally through their BizSpark and Startup Accelerator programs. Last month, they had announced consolidation of two programs globally under “Microsoft Ventures”. In line with this announcement, Microsoft India is now merging their seed fund, startup accelerator and BizSpark program in India under single program.
Consolidation of these programs will now allow Indian startups a single point-of-entry to engage with Microsoft through a broad-based and holistic approach.
The consolidate entity – Microsoft Ventures – in India will be spearheaded by Mukund Mohan, while Ravi Narayan who was previously MD of MentorPartners will be responsible for Microsoft Ventures Accelerator and its connections with other community initiatives.
In regards to this consolidation, Mukun Mohan said:
“Through this coordinated effort, we will now engage with entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey from ideation to maturity and support them with compelling offerings. Our community evangelism program will provide entrepreneurs easy access to technology and resources, so that they can focus on exploring ideas. The accelerator will provide access to mentors and technical experts so that they can convert their ideas into products. The fund will offer seed investments to startups that demonstrate early business success. In all, through one focused effort we will provide the tools, resources and expertise that startups need as they innovate, build and grow.”
Kattayil Rajinish Menon, who is Director for ISV & Cloud Strategy at Microsoft India will be responsible for broad community engagements as part of the BizSpark program for startups with other accelerators, incubators, industry forums as well as Microsoft customers and partners in India.
This consolidation by Microsoft India is sure to help startups in India as it was Microsoft’s various startup initiatives and offerings were fragmented previously. This change will allow startups and entrepreneurs to access all the varied resources under one roof!
