9 Startups Graduate From Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore

At the recent Microsoft Accelerator demo day, nine tech startups got the chance to exhibit their innovations before some 200-plus VCs, angel investors, and leaders from the Indian tech industry. That included Raman Roy, who is often called the father of India’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

According to Raman, chairman and MD of Quatrro and co-founder of Indian Angel Network, India today is a hotbed of startups.

There has been a dramatic change in society’s outlook towards startups. A few years ago, a self-started business was the ‘face saving’ option for someone who didn’t manage to secure a job. He had no ideas, no strategy, and no real interest in the business.

Today, employees and even fresh graduates are brimming with ideas of what can be created into a successful business; people are giving up lucrative job offers, and successful executives are leaving high-paying jobs as the entrepreneurial bug bites them. They live, breath, eat, drink the business. There is so much energy! Entrepreneurship is the preferred avenue for smart people who dare to take risks and realize their dreams and, in doing so, provide employment to others.

Praising the efforts of people behind Microsoft Accelerator, Roy said that such initiatives specifically address the key needs of startups such as mentorship, access to funds, and building a strong business foundation. According to Mukund Mohan, CEO-in-residence at Microsoft Accelerator in India:

We are extremely happy with the progress of this batch […] during the last four months at the Accelerator. We handpicked them from 450-plus applications. On the basis of our learnings from batch one, we made several improvements in our program, including more seed stage/angel investors as lead mentors, sharper focus on product definition and road-map, and stronger UX support. All these have helped this batch immensely as they prepared to take a significant leap into the global marketplace.

These are the nine startups that made it through the incubator’s second ever program:

1. Explara

This is an event ticketing platform that already covers nine Indian cities.

2. Deck

As the name suggests, it’s a way to create great-looking presentations. It has a web app as well as apps for Android and iOS.

3. Harness

Harness is an online education startup that focuses on its Touch-on-Cloud “operating system” to help educators and students at any level to collaborate and learn together.

4. i7 Networks

i7 Networks is a security company that allows companies to check and monitor devices under a company’s network, especially to keep track of the health and state of the devices.

5. iDOS

IDOS aims to ensure that the data processed by every accounting software is pre-validated and accurate.

6. SupportBee

A former graduate of our Startup Arena contest, SupportBee helps companies deal with customers in a simple support interface that deliberately resembles Gmail.

7. TableGrabber

Already operating in Brazil and India, this allows you to make online reservations at restaurants.

8. Tuebora

Tuebora provides governments and companies with access management solutionz, which aim to improve efficiency at organizations. It’s basically software-as-a-service (SaaS) for legal, management, and organizational needs.

9. Visarity

This is a startup focused on creating 3D mobile ads to help advertisers “deliver emotion, engagement and entertainment through mobile 3D experiences”.

(Editing by Steven Millward and Anh-Minh Tran Do)/p>