Microsoft set to place its venture fund M12 into Indian startup ecosystem

Suviral Shukla

5 years ago

Microsoft, globally acclaimed tech giant is ready to bring its venture fund M12 in India in order to strengthen the Indian startups for the next phase of growth, the company announced today. The M12 fund, generally, invests in enterprise software companies from Series A to Series C.

M12 team is comprised of experienced VCs and Microsoft veterans who will be adding value to the company’s investment portfolio, beyond just the capital invested, reported Inc42.

The M12 includes next gen tech companies spanning over big data and analytics, business SaaS, cloud infrastructure, AI/machine learning, productivity, security, and other emerging technologies.

“With our intelligent tech expertise, deep focus on trust and unique global go to market partnering, we empower unicorns and startups to scale sustainably at a global level. We remain excited about India’s entrepreneurial startup potential and will continue to accelerate it as a growth engine for the economy,” Anant Maheshwari, president of Microsoft India said.

Microsoft Corporation, headquartered in Washington DC, was founded by Bill Gates, Paul Allen in 1975. It is a multinational technology company which develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.

Microsoft for Startups is aimed at helping startups become enterprise ready. The programme helps startups across the globe by leveraging Microsoft’s cloud marketplace, enterprise sales team, and rapidly growing partner ecosystem to reach customers globally.

In the past 18 months, Microsoft for Startups has closed more than 120 co-sell deals with more than $126 million in active pipeline for startups.

Moreover, M12 existing portfolio includes deeptech startup Acerta, drone startup AirMap, and cloud security company such as Aqua Security.