It was a meeting with a clutch of about 16 startups in the Silicon Valley Bay Area that led Microsoft to make their product, Windows Azure infrastructure as a service, compatible with open source software such as Linux.
From sourcing ideas to influencing direction of new product development, startups are becoming critical for large technology giants IBM, Microsoft and Qualcomm who are plugging into this ecosystem to fine tune their future strategies.
"The office joke is that it was during the break when we went from the conference room to rest room that we decided Linux support is critical," says S Somasegar, corporate vice-president of the developer division at Microsoft.
Somasegar, who is just two levels down from CEO Steve Ballmer at the world's largest software maker took a trip to Silicon Valley along with his team to get these insights. Last week he was in Bangalore, to launch Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure, a cloud computing platform.
Microsoft accelerator
Out of 200 business ideas, Microsoft has chosen eleven early stage technology startups to be incubated at its new centre in Bangalore. The batch will be put through a four-month mentoring program led by senior executives from Microsoft, top entrepreneurs and investors.
"They will receive all the tools needed to create the most successful businesses from India," says Amit Chatterjee, managing director, Microsoft India (R&D). Among the 11 incubated startups is Sparsha Learning Technologies started by two IITians Debabrata Bagchi and Kapil Kaushik.
The firm, which counts Pune University and MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology among its customers, builds simulation based learning methodologies that help students learn-by-practicing.
"The association with Microsoft has given us broad visibility and credibility. Venture capitalists have started approaching us and lot of people from top institutions are applying for jobs," says Debabrata Bagchi, co-founder of Sparsha. While Sparsha is focused on education, Amplyfy.me, a social media platform, aims to engage TV viewers and enable them to discover programmes and provide direct feedback to the media houses.
The nascent startup has already developed an application that is available in Android market and has got around 500 downloads. "Besides mentors, we have got access to their investor network comprising Accel, Nexus, Sequoia and IDG," says Naresh Bhat, cofounder of Amplyfy.me. Bhat, who already runs a software services firm, joined hands with Prajwal BS and Rajesh Kumar, who had conceived the platform during a codefest event organised by technology companyYahoo, where they were both employees.
Breakout areas are provided at the accelerator for informal huddles and mentor sessions. The conference rooms are equipped with advanced communication technologies to facilitate discussions with mentors or other firms in Microsoft Accelerators in Beijing and Tel Aviv. The garage space will be used for community networking sessions and pizza dinners with industry luminaries. It is also equipped with gym, games room, pantry and facility to watch movies.
One of the mentors, Mukund Mohan, a serial entrepreneur, says it has become important for technology giants such as IBM, Microsoft and Qualcomm to aggressively chase startups. "Biggies know it very well that for every job created by a startup, about $500 goes to Microsoft, $100 goes to IBM and $50 goes to Qualcomm to buy their software and tools," says Mohan. According to him, startups have become very important to create jobs during the downturn.
Smart camps by IBM
Last week, five selected technology startups presented their new or improved company at IBM SmartCamp in Bangalore. Each startup got a few minutes on the stage to convince investors, executives and mentors sitting in the audience - expecting to get funding, potential customers and employees. IBM chose the business ideas out of 200 firms that had applied for the programme.
Among the five startups was Hyderabad-based Imaginate Software Labs founded by IIT Madras graduates, which has developed digital trial product for the retail industry. Here, shoppers can instantaneously try out a variety of apparel and jewellery by just standing in front of a digital display or an electronic mirror.
"At the SmartCamp, I met a few top executives from big retail and fashion industry, who gave me good feedback," says Pavan Kosaraju, cofounder at Imaginate. Finally, Yonyx, an IIT Delhi incubated technology startup, was named the IBM SmartCamp winner.
The firm will go on to the SmartCamp global finals in Beijing, where it will face-off with winners from other regions — America, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. "It is a win-win situation for both. Conducting such programmes enables them getting the mind share and exposure for us," says Sanjay Bajaj, co-founder of Yonyx Infomedia.
Yonyx enables organisations to publish their trouble-shooting and product support knowledge in an interactive self service for the benefit of customers.
"Working closely with the entrepreneurs helps us innovate better and help clients solve some of society's most pressing challenges," says Karthik Padmanabhan, country manager for ISV & developer relations at IBM India.
Qualcomm's chase
Startups such as Apalya Technologies, which enables telecom majors such as Vodafone andAirtel to stream mobile telivision video content to consumers has benefitted from Qualcomm, the largest maker of mobile phone semiconductors. "Qualcomm's network helped us tap business leads globally, especially in markets such as Africa and Indonesia," says B Vamshi Reddy, co-founder of Apalya.
It was able to do this when Qualcomm Ventures, the early-stage investment arm of the mobile technology major, invested funding in the Hyderabad-based firm. Apalaya has raised a total funding of $11 million from Qualcomm along with investors - IDG and IndoUS Venture Partners.
A few months back, Qualcomm Ventures also announced that it has increased the corpus for its Qprize competition to $1 million to fund top technology startups. From the pool of competing entries, it will select one first prize winner of the QPrize India competition, who will receive $100,000 funding. That winner then also be eligible to compete against other regional finalists in the grand finals competition for an additional $150,000 funding.
Funding startups
Qualcomm is not the only one who is funding startups. The SmartCamp is part of IBM Global Entrepreneur Program - a $150-million investment to fund and establish programmes that promote new business opportunities. Microsoft also is scaling up its another small and medium business platform - Bizspark programme .
Besides providing mentoring and free tools, Bizspark is helping entrepreneurs to get funded by connecting them venture capital funds and tap global markets. In April, Bizspark winner Freshdesk, a Chennai-based customer support software provider, raised about Rs 25 crore from international fund Tiger Global and existing investor Accel Partner this month. It had also received about Rs 5 crore in seed investment from Accel last year.
"Microsoft helped us to get funded quickly, as they brought visibility and credibility for our firm," says Girish Mathrubootham, CEO at Freshdesk, which is now providing its services to customers in 40 countries. "Startups here are important as they are always on the leading edge of technology adoption. Sooner, established players are going to do the same," says Microsoft's Somasegar.
Source
From sourcing ideas to influencing direction of new product development, startups are becoming critical for large technology giants IBM, Microsoft and Qualcomm who are plugging into this ecosystem to fine tune their future strategies.
"The office joke is that it was during the break when we went from the conference room to rest room that we decided Linux support is critical," says S Somasegar, corporate vice-president of the developer division at Microsoft.
Somasegar, who is just two levels down from CEO Steve Ballmer at the world's largest software maker took a trip to Silicon Valley along with his team to get these insights. Last week he was in Bangalore, to launch Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure, a cloud computing platform.
Microsoft accelerator
Out of 200 business ideas, Microsoft has chosen eleven early stage technology startups to be incubated at its new centre in Bangalore. The batch will be put through a four-month mentoring program led by senior executives from Microsoft, top entrepreneurs and investors.
"They will receive all the tools needed to create the most successful businesses from India," says Amit Chatterjee, managing director, Microsoft India (R&D). Among the 11 incubated startups is Sparsha Learning Technologies started by two IITians Debabrata Bagchi and Kapil Kaushik.
The firm, which counts Pune University and MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology among its customers, builds simulation based learning methodologies that help students learn-by-practicing.
"The association with Microsoft has given us broad visibility and credibility. Venture capitalists have started approaching us and lot of people from top institutions are applying for jobs," says Debabrata Bagchi, co-founder of Sparsha. While Sparsha is focused on education, Amplyfy.me, a social media platform, aims to engage TV viewers and enable them to discover programmes and provide direct feedback to the media houses.
The nascent startup has already developed an application that is available in Android market and has got around 500 downloads. "Besides mentors, we have got access to their investor network comprising Accel, Nexus, Sequoia and IDG," says Naresh Bhat, cofounder of Amplyfy.me. Bhat, who already runs a software services firm, joined hands with Prajwal BS and Rajesh Kumar, who had conceived the platform during a codefest event organised by technology companyYahoo, where they were both employees.
Breakout areas are provided at the accelerator for informal huddles and mentor sessions. The conference rooms are equipped with advanced communication technologies to facilitate discussions with mentors or other firms in Microsoft Accelerators in Beijing and Tel Aviv. The garage space will be used for community networking sessions and pizza dinners with industry luminaries. It is also equipped with gym, games room, pantry and facility to watch movies.
One of the mentors, Mukund Mohan, a serial entrepreneur, says it has become important for technology giants such as IBM, Microsoft and Qualcomm to aggressively chase startups. "Biggies know it very well that for every job created by a startup, about $500 goes to Microsoft, $100 goes to IBM and $50 goes to Qualcomm to buy their software and tools," says Mohan. According to him, startups have become very important to create jobs during the downturn.
Smart camps by IBM
Last week, five selected technology startups presented their new or improved company at IBM SmartCamp in Bangalore. Each startup got a few minutes on the stage to convince investors, executives and mentors sitting in the audience - expecting to get funding, potential customers and employees. IBM chose the business ideas out of 200 firms that had applied for the programme.
Among the five startups was Hyderabad-based Imaginate Software Labs founded by IIT Madras graduates, which has developed digital trial product for the retail industry. Here, shoppers can instantaneously try out a variety of apparel and jewellery by just standing in front of a digital display or an electronic mirror.
"At the SmartCamp, I met a few top executives from big retail and fashion industry, who gave me good feedback," says Pavan Kosaraju, cofounder at Imaginate. Finally, Yonyx, an IIT Delhi incubated technology startup, was named the IBM SmartCamp winner.
The firm will go on to the SmartCamp global finals in Beijing, where it will face-off with winners from other regions — America, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. "It is a win-win situation for both. Conducting such programmes enables them getting the mind share and exposure for us," says Sanjay Bajaj, co-founder of Yonyx Infomedia.
Yonyx enables organisations to publish their trouble-shooting and product support knowledge in an interactive self service for the benefit of customers.
"Working closely with the entrepreneurs helps us innovate better and help clients solve some of society's most pressing challenges," says Karthik Padmanabhan, country manager for ISV & developer relations at IBM India.
Qualcomm's chase
Startups such as Apalya Technologies, which enables telecom majors such as Vodafone andAirtel to stream mobile telivision video content to consumers has benefitted from Qualcomm, the largest maker of mobile phone semiconductors. "Qualcomm's network helped us tap business leads globally, especially in markets such as Africa and Indonesia," says B Vamshi Reddy, co-founder of Apalya.
It was able to do this when Qualcomm Ventures, the early-stage investment arm of the mobile technology major, invested funding in the Hyderabad-based firm. Apalaya has raised a total funding of $11 million from Qualcomm along with investors - IDG and IndoUS Venture Partners.
A few months back, Qualcomm Ventures also announced that it has increased the corpus for its Qprize competition to $1 million to fund top technology startups. From the pool of competing entries, it will select one first prize winner of the QPrize India competition, who will receive $100,000 funding. That winner then also be eligible to compete against other regional finalists in the grand finals competition for an additional $150,000 funding.
Funding startups
Qualcomm is not the only one who is funding startups. The SmartCamp is part of IBM Global Entrepreneur Program - a $150-million investment to fund and establish programmes that promote new business opportunities. Microsoft also is scaling up its another small and medium business platform - Bizspark programme .
Besides providing mentoring and free tools, Bizspark is helping entrepreneurs to get funded by connecting them venture capital funds and tap global markets. In April, Bizspark winner Freshdesk, a Chennai-based customer support software provider, raised about Rs 25 crore from international fund Tiger Global and existing investor Accel Partner this month. It had also received about Rs 5 crore in seed investment from Accel last year.
"Microsoft helped us to get funded quickly, as they brought visibility and credibility for our firm," says Girish Mathrubootham, CEO at Freshdesk, which is now providing its services to customers in 40 countries. "Startups here are important as they are always on the leading edge of technology adoption. Sooner, established players are going to do the same," says Microsoft's Somasegar.
Source
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted By Sundeep aka SunTechie
Sundeep is a Founder of Youth Talent Auzzar, a passionate blogger, a programmer, a developer, CISE and these days he is pursuing his graduation in Engineering with Computer Science dept.
Add Sundeep as a Friend on
No comments:
Post a Comment