Comments
Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it is collaborating with Accenture under its 100X100X100 program to host the third edition of the Accenture Ventures Challenge for startups in India.
The Accenture Ventures Challenge is an annual event run by the Accenture Ventures Open Innovation program in India. The event identifies best B2B tech startups “to develop solutions for real-world challenges faced by businesses.”
The collaboration also marks the first corporate access partnership for Microsoft‘s 100X100X100 program in India.
Microsoft had launched its 100X100X100 program for B2B SaaS startups in India back in February during Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s visit to India.
This initiative is meant to bring together 100 committed companies and 100 early and growth start-ups that have enterprise-ready solutions to offer. Each participating company will have to commit to $100,000 over the course of 18 months on solutions provided by the SaaS startup.
The Accenture event will identify 12 innovative startups that are currently working to address the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses, along with the pandemic’s human impact.
“The winner in each category will be given an opportunity to join the Accenture Ventures Open Innovation partner program and co-create solutions for Accenture clients around the world. Winners will also get access to benefits from the Microsoft ScaleUp program, which supports Seed or Series A B2B startups to scale and co-sell with Microsoft sales teams,” the company said.
Lathika Pai, country head, Microsoft for Startups, MENA & SAARC, said, “The collaboration between Microsoft’s 100X100X100 and the Accenture Ventures Challenge event reflects our commitment to boost the entrepreneurial energy of startups and build scale with the enterprise opportunities. This initiative will truly help startups evolve from being market-ready to enterprise-ready with the best resources and support from both Microsoft and Accenture.”
Avnish Sabharwal, managing director for Accenture Ventures and Open Innovation in India, said: “The ongoing business disruption requires an urgent response, and we are confident that we’ll discover innovative new solutions from deep tech startups to help solve some of the most pressing business and human challenges being faced by organizations in India and across the globe.”
The event will be held virtual on August 11, where the winners of the challenge will be announced.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.