 "Microsoft Ventures Accelerator announces 2013 winter batch for India")
Microsoft India today announced the final list of select technology startups which will constitute the 2013 winter batch of Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Bangalore. Eight companies, namely AdSparx, ShieldSquare, Chance, Frrole, Native5, SignEasy, TommyJams and Whale Logix were selected from over 1000 applications received over two months and after several rounds of screening by a panel of judges comprising of senior leaders from Microsoft and the industry. Scibler, the ninth company, is from the 2013 Summer batch, staying on to achieve more aggressive milestones. Apart from these nine, four more companies, HasGeek, Nanobi, Tookitaki and 1000Lookz, will also be closely associated with the Accelerator during this period.
Batch for Winter 2013 in India announced
Announcing the third batch, Ravi Narayan, who recently joined the Microsoft Ventures in India leadership team, said this was the first batch to join Accelerator after the company had aligned all startup related activities under a single umbrella called Microsoftr Ventures in order to be able to engage with entrepreneurs in all stages from ideation to maturity. Narayan is responsible for Microsoft Ventures Accelerator and its connections with other community initiatives in India. Explaining his vision, he said that the program is keen on helping any highly motivated technology startup which the team thinks could benefit from their association
Rajesh Raju, Managing Director of Kalaari Capital, has been closely associated with the Accelerator and was also on the panel of judges that selected the winter batch said, “Worldwide the most successful startups are the ones which have had very strong willed, passionate and hardworking entrepreneurs with simple clear vision. That is what we looked for when we picked this batch.”
The winter batch, hosted in a facility in Microsoft’s Lavelle Road, Bangalore office, is currently undergoing a four month “deep immersion” programme that will end with Demo Day in late November.
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