Microsoft’s ‘Highway to a Hundred Unicorns’ selects 54 startups from Tier 2 cities

Hyderabad: In its efforts to enable the startup ecosystem in Tier 2 cities across the country, Microsoft’s ‘Highway to a Hundred Unicorns’ has selected 54 startups from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Kerala and Telangana. The top tech startups selected through ‘Emerge-X’ win Azure credits and a host of business and tech benefits. The competition has received over 530 applications and the top three startups from each state gain access to a year-long mentorship program and a two-day founder bootcamp.

Highway to a Hundred Unicorns, the Microsoft for Startups initiative, works closely with local governments to strengthen the startup ecosystem in each state. The fifth edition of the outreach program was hosted at Hyderabad in association with the Government of Telangana. More than 150 innovators and entrepreneurs engaged with Microsoft experts, industry stalwarts and ecosystem stakeholders, including members of the state government.

More than 650 startups that have participated in the five events have benefited from the mentorship and guidance through technology workshops on Azure, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Over 75 ecosystem players including the Global Entrepreneurship Network, TiE, Headstart, NASSCOM, and Startup Grind as well as prominent investors, entrepreneurs and executives in the national startup ecosystem have actively engaged with the innovators at each of the locations. Wholesalebox and Rapidor are among the participating startups in the program that have received recent fresh funding from one of the participating investors.

Lathika Pai, Country Head, Microsoft for Startups – MENA and SAARC said, “The entrepreneurial energy of startups is rising well beyond the known metropolitan hubs and is remarkably high in Tier 2 cities, despite the obvious challenges. Through Highway to a Hundred Unicorns, we’ve been able to reach some highly promising innovators from each of the five states. In the next phase of our journey, we look forward to engaging with more startups and accelerating their growth and providing them with Microsoft’s platform to go global.”

Microsoft for Startups is committed to helping entrepreneurs build and scale their companies, by leveraging the cloud platform, enterprise sales team and partner ecosystem. Through its cutting edge technology expertise, strong focus on Microsoft for Startups, a growing partner ecosystem, and the venture fund M12, Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help startups evolve from being market ready to enterprise ready.

 Emerge X Winners: