Microsoft Accelerator Chooses All-B2B Cohort

Microsoft Accelerator, which launched in 2012, has so far accelerated 129 startups across 10 cohorts. For its 11th group of startups, however, Microsoft Accelerator has placed the focus on B2B.

Reports in YourStory on Thursday (Aug. 24) said the accelerator’s latest batch includes 14 B2B startups, most of which are based in India, with a focus on helping the companies strike their own strategic enterprise partnerships.

“With continued efforts to increase collaboration between startups and corporates, the program will help these startups scale up with partnerships,” said Microsoft Accelerator Managing Director Bala Girisaballa in a statement.

The companies are Clonect, Ace Turtle, Udaan, Simplilearn, MintM, Hotelogix, Docswallet, MegDap, GIEOM, i-exceed, KrypC, Liv.ai, VideoKen and Kata.AI.

Some examples of what these companies do: Clonect provides enterprise compliance solutions; Udaan is a B2B eCommerce platform designed for SMBs; Docswallet enables companies to digitize and manage their documents; GIEOM supports banks’ compliance efforts; i-exceed helps banks provide their own digital solutions to clients; and KrypC focuses on helping companies adopt blockchain.

Reports said that between all 14 of them, the companies have $64 million in funding, with average revenue of $2.6 million.

“All the startups have a strong vector of disruption and all of them are on the cloud,” Girisaballa said of commonalities between the firms. “Apart from B2B and global, they have an in-depth knowledge on problem-solving.

“We have brought in some unique strengths, and apart from connecting with partners across the globe, we hope to achieve much more,” Girisaballa continued. “Together, Microsoft and the startups will approach customers and help solve their problems.”

Microsoft will be lending its Azure Cloud technology to the companies so they can enhance their cloud, IoT, Big Data and analytics capabilities. The Accelerator will also link the startups with marketing, sales and research teams.

B2B startups are gaining more attention among investors, with the latest stats from KPMG’s Pulse of FinTech report finding B2B startups are leading a rebound in venture capital funding for the market. Second-quarter data found four of the top 10 venture capital deals went to B2B companies, with KPMG analysts expecting that shift to continue.