Microsoft India unveils two new initiatives to help startups scale faster

Devdiscourse News Desk | New Delhi | Updated: 20-04-2022 12:45 IST | Created: 20-04-2022 12:44 IST

Country:
India

Microsoft India today announced two new initiatives to help startups innovate and grow faster through its ecosystem. These include Microsoft AI Innovate Season Two and a hackathon for startups to address business, sustainability and societal challenges.

Microsoft AI Innovate is a 10-week program that provides qualified startups working in the space of Artificial Intelligence with technology and business enablement resources to help rapidly build products and accelerate business growth. The second cohort of the program is inviting nominations from SaaS startups whose core applications or services are built using AI technologies.

Startups will get an opportunity to partner closely with Microsoft's engineering and product teams to build their core AI models and they will also get opportunities to work on relevant scenarios with Microsoft&'s industry, research and engineering experts and receive mentorship.

You can apply for the second cohort of the Microsoft AI Innovate program before May 6, 2022.

The second initiative - Code Titans Hackathon - invites teams to turn their ideas into prototypes that are built on Microsoft Azure. Startups will get an opportunity to learn from Azure masterclasses and hands-on training sessions on key technologies like Serverless, Kubernetes, Java & .NET, Github and Azure AI & ML, among others.

As part of the Hackathon, 100 shortlisted startups will get $300 Azure Credits to build their prototype on Azure. The top 25 startups are also eligible to join Microsoft for Startups while the top three teams will win cash prizes.

Applications for the Code Titans Hackathon are open till May 12, 2022.

"The disruptive vision of startups is catalyzing our country's innovation engine and we are excited to partner with every startup on this journey. We are hopeful that both initiatives will help startups build securely and scale faster through the Microsoft ecosystem," said Sangeeta Bavi, Director, Startup Ecosystem, Microsoft India.