Meet 14 promising startups Microsoft accelerator picked to get them enterprise-ready

Summer cohort of 2017: startups and their mentors at Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore. Photo credit: Microsoft Accelerator.

The Microsoft accelerator program in India has been evolving. It shifted focus last year to later-stage startups with a proven product-market fit, which can gain the most from the tech giant’s mentorship and global connections. It now passes on promising early-stage startup applicants to partner incubators and angel investors, and also works with partners to identify suitable startups for its accelerator program.

The average funding raised in this cohort is US$2.5 million – and two of the startups are bootstrapped. The average annual revenue in the cohort is US$900,000.

This strategy has been refined further with an enterprise focus. It recently came up with an ‘enterprise readiness score’ for startups, derived primarily from three parameters: customer traction, funding velocity (taking into account both the total funds and number of rounds), and size of the company. And now, the latest batch of 14 startups to join the Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore, unveiled today, has a clear goal to raise their enterprise readiness score and target corporate clients.

“The average funding raised in this cohort is US$2.5 million – and two of the startups are bootstrapped. The average annual revenue in the cohort is US$900,000. So it’s a mature bunch on the cusp of scaling their technology and business,” Bala Girisaballa, CEO in residence at the Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore, points out.

As Bala put it to Tech in Asia in an earlier interview: “You have to be of a certain size to be able to dance with an elephant.” Here’s a look at the 14 startups that will be dancing with Microsoft through the summer of 2017:

See: Why Microsoft is asking startups to dance with it into the new year

SigTuple

Just last month, SigTuple announced a series A funding round of US$5.8 million – the largest investment in a healthcare AI startup out of India. This startup is poised to scale up and the Microsoft accelerator program comes at an opportune time.

Bangalore-based SigTuple uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to automate routine tasks of pathologists – such as analyzing blood smears on microscopic slides. Accel Partners, Axilor Ventures, Pi Ventures, IDG Ventures, Endiya Partners, VH Capital advised by WhatsApp’s Neeraj Arora, ex-Googler Amit Singhal, and Flipkart co-founders Sachin and Binny Bansal are among its backers.

See: Artificially intelligent pathologist bags India’s biggest funding in healthcare AI

Zenatix

Delhi-based Zenatix uses IoT (internet of things) to optimize energy consumption for enterprises and cut costs. Its cloud-based software can monitor and control smart meters installed in buildings in real time. Pi Ventures and Blume Ventures made a US$1.2 million investment in Zenatix just last month.

“The analytics engine slices and dices the data to come up with an energy consumption pattern of the building, down to each and every appliance in it. Then steps are taken to optimize that. We have been able to give 10-12 percent of energy savings to all our customers,” Zenatix co-founder and CTO Dr. Amarjeet Singh told Tech in Asia in an earlier interview.

See: This startup tames your energy vampires, cuts your power bill

Active AI

Active AI, based in Singapore and India, makes AI-powered chatbots for banks. It lets customers interact with the bots to pay bills, check their balance, and so on. While the main channel for these bots is Facebook Messenger in Singapore and India, Active AI uses Line and Zalo in Thailand and Vietnam.

LetsTransport

Tricog

VPhrase

Heckyl

AceBot

Lavelle Networks

SysCloud

WittyParrot

FirstHive

QuestionPro

Karomi