Microsoft launches program to accelerate growth of agritech startups in India

Microsoft, the technology giant, introduced a program for agritech start-ups in India that are committed to driving transformation in agriculture.

The Microsoft for Agritech Start-ups program is developed to help start-ups build industry-specific solutions, scale and grow with access to deep technology, business and marketing resources, the company said in a statement.

In India, agriculture has been going through transformation as agritech start-ups are developing innovative digital solutions to maximize productivity, improve market linkages, increase supply chain efficiency and provide greater access to inputs for agri-businesses. Thus, the program is in line with the same and offers the best-in-class tech and business enablement resources to help agritech start-ups innovate and scale fast.

Access to Azure FarmBeats will also be available to start-ups. Azure FarmBeats enables aggregation of agriculture datasets across providers and generation of actionable insights by building artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) models based on fused datasets.

“Sustainable agricultural technology can transform the global food landscape. Agritech start-up innovations are addressing some of our key challenges connected to agriculture and food production. The Microsoft for Agritech Start-ups program is among the early steps in our journey towards empowering these start-ups in India and transforming global agricultural practices," said Ms Sangeeta Bavi, Director, Start-up Ecosystem, Microsoft India.

The program is spread across three tiers and offers a range of benefits, including tech enablement and business resources. Qualified seed to Series C start-ups can boost their businesses with Azure benefits (including free credits), unlimited technical support and aid with Azure Marketplace onboarding.

With Microsoft’s partner ecosystem, start-ups with enterprise-ready solutions can scale quickly with joint go-to-market strategies, technical support and new sales opportunities, while start-ups that plans to offer digital agriculture solutions have the opportunity to co-build customized solutions with Azure FarmBeats without investing in deep data engineering resources.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.