Microsoft Accelerator, a global
program built to empower startups and Wipro
Limited, a leading information technology, consulting and
business process services company have entered into a partnership that will provide
startups with greater opportunities to innovate and grow their business. This announcement was made at the accelerator’s
flagship event - Think Next 2016 that
brings together thought leaders who are driving transformation via innovation.
Think Next 2016 also marked the graduation of 13 startups from its ninth cohort.
13
startups, Whodat, Betaout, MovenSync, Transaction Analysts, AllizHealth, Uncanny Vision, Meddiff, FarEye, Epictions, Germin8, Talview, Faircent and Surukam, graduated from the
accelerator’s ninth cohort and were introduced to an audience of more than 550 corporates, investors, thought leaders, and
Microsoft management who partnered to push the collaborative innovation. Almost all these are backing on advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Internet of Things (IoT) to scale up.
This partnership is part of Microsoft Accelerator
#CoInnovate program which provides startups with more go-to-market (GTM)
opportunities by working with enterprise businesses. Wipro will also refer
select startups for Microsoft Accelerator programs and events. Under the
partnership, referred startups will gain access to Wipro Open Innovation initiatives, such as:
·
Global GTM reach to
rapidly build scale
·
An opportunity to
integrate their solutions with select Wipro solutions
·
Wipro will help take the startups solutions to its
global customer base
·
Targeted Wipro
marketing support for proactive business opportunities, among others
Wipro’s Open Innovation philosophy strives
to bring together and partner with key stakeholders such as
startups, academia, expert networks,
Venture Capitalists, Incubators/Accelerators and Technology Consortia in
the external ecosystem in order
to deliver business value to Wipro, its
partners and customers.
“Microsoft
Accelerator #CoInnovate program bridges the gap between corporates and
startups. Connecting startups to corporates and crafting a win-win relationship
is a critical need of the ecosystem today. The partnership with Wipro allows us
to leverage our combined strengths and market reach to provide a whole new
level of market access for our startups.” said Bala Girisaballa,
CEO-In-Residence, Microsoft Accelerator. Bala mentioned that many of the
portfolio startups, including CustomerXPS, CloudCherry, Zing HR, Altizon System
and iBOT
have seen great traction from Microsoft’s ISV Program and the accelerator’s
corporate partnerships.
Commenting on the alliance, K.R. Sanjiv, Chief Technology Officer,
Wipro Limited said, “Wipro has built strong connects in the global startup
ecosystem, over the last three years, as part of our focus on building new open
innovation capabilities. We are confident that our partnership with Microsoft
Accelerator will be an important enabler in developing critical solutions for
our customers, harnessing both the innovation taking place within Wipro
and the external ecosystem.”
Through
this partnership, enterprises stand to gain from access to the innovative
technology solutions emerging from some of the best technology startups in the
country. In addition, they will get a robust technology solution backed by the
reliable delivery and support platform provided by Microsoft and Wipro.
Highlights from
Think Next 2016
13
startups, Whodat, Betaout, MovenSync, Transaction Analysts, AllizHealth, Uncanny Vision, Meddiff, FarEye, Epictions, Germin8, Talview, Faircent and Surukam, graduated from the
accelerator’s ninth cohort and were introduced to an audience of more than 550 corporates, investors, thought leaders, and
Microsoft management who partnered to push the collaborative innovation.
The
event also had Microsoft leaders, Judson Althoff (Executive Vice President,
Worldwide Commercial Business, Microsoft Corporation) and Tzahi ‘Zack’ Weisfeld (General Manager,
Microsoft Accelerator) addressing the audience on developments in the global
technology and startup ecosystem. At the Think
Next Panel - Transforming Tomorrow
Together, Althoff, along with Aftab
Mathur (Director, Temasek) and K.R. Sanjiv (Senior Vice President and Chief
Technology Officer, Wipro Limited) and Balaji Suryanarayana (Co-founder,
CustomerXPS) discussed the significance of enterprise-startup partnerships in
the process of digital transformation. Microsoft also hosted the third edition
of ‘All India Accelerators & Incubators Meet’ bringing together 35+ accelerators and
incubation partners to drive greater impact to enable and empower the startups.
At the Think Next Panel, an impressive panel
of speakers - Sharad Sharma from industry think tank iSPIRT, VCs Shekhar
Kirani, (Accel Partners) and Samir Kumar (Inventus Capital), serial
entrepreneur, K Ganesh, and Microsoft Accelerator alum, Aditya Sood, Sr.
Director Engineering and Products, Nutanix deliberated on one of the most
critical questions in the startup ecosystem – Why Go Global? and talked about the potential of India as a market
for growth. Before the main event, Microsoft presented a highly curated set of
startups to a select audience of investors, CMOs and Ecommerce businesses in a
VC Speed Dating and two Market Access Programs.
No comments:
Post a Comment