IIT Bombay, Microsoft join hands to support start-ups

Institute of Indian Technology (IIT) Bombay and Microsoft have joined hands to foster and support start-ups, as both signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today, November 24, 2022.

Microsoft collaborated with the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE). SINE is an umbrella body at IIT Bombay.

As a part of this collaboration, SINE and Microsoft will explore opportunities that will help startups at SINE avail benefits of Microsoft software and services, access to GitHub, M365 resources, training and skilling on Azure, along with mentor networks.

This collaboration will further help startups get exclusive access to Microsoft’s leadership, industry experts Microsoft Valuable Professionals (MVP), Azure Influencers, and startup founders. Microsoft and SINE will also work together to select and onboard startups to Founder’s Hub. Select startups also get the opportunity to be a part of the Azure community program and other ongoing developer campaigns by Microsoft like the Azure Developer League, Azure Blogathon, Hackathons, Open Hacks, and Imagine Cup.

“SINE is excited to join hands with Microsoft to help startups working in the technology domain. With more and more focus shifting towards cloud-based technology solutions across different sectors, Microsoft’s history and experience of being the leading global technology giant will surely benefit our startups and we hope they can leverage this partnership to the fullest,” Poyni Bhat, Chief Executive Officer, SINE said.

Himani Agrawal, Country Head, Azure, Microsoft India said, “Microsoft Azure platform hosts a wide array of products and cloud services which can help startups solve today’s challenges and design solutions for the future. We are thrilled to collaborate with SINE, IIT Bombay to empower startups to harness the power of the cloud, enabling them to turn meaningful innovation into actionable results”

Microsoft will also provide startups at SINE access to flexible, scalable resources (API Integration with GitHub, visits to Microsoft Tech Center in Bengaluru to demonstrate tech value and scheduled in-person/online sessions.

“Through the MoU, Microsoft would be providing their technological platforms and solutions to SINE’s startups at an affordable cost,” Poyni Bhatt, CEO of Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) told Free Press Journal.

As an incubator, Bhatt said, SINE acts as a support system to early-stage startups. Here the companies are matched with the right investors, mentors, and relevant government branches and can even make use of the incubation labs.

“Though it isn’t necessary for founders to come from a certain background, engineers have the edge while founding tech startups given their technical knowhow,” the SINCE head added. Free Press Journal