Microsoft expands ‘Highway to a 100 Unicorns’ initiative...
Microsoft for Startups recently launched the Highway to a 100 Unicorns initiative in Asia Pacific, to strengthen the region’s start-up ecosystem.
This follows the initiative’s success in India, where only 56 start-ups were selected to the Emergex programme from six states, which have over 15000+ startups. The Emergex winners have greatly benefited with global market access support, a three-day founder bootcamp with world-class mentors, access to funding, ongoing mentorship and guidance on Azure, artificial intelligence, machine learning and more. Innovation is critical to unlocking inclusive economic growth in Asia Pacific; high-income economies in the region invest three times more in research and development as compared to their peers. To spur innovative entrepreneurship, Microsoft will work closely with governments and industry partners to discover and nurture technology start-ups with a high potential to become truly global enterprises in the future.
“At Microsoft, we are working to build up a more supportive ecosystem for startups in Sri Lanka,” said Microsoft Sri Lanka and the Maldives Country Manager Hasitha Abeywardena.
“Start-ups play a vital role in our economy as innovators, disruptors and first-movers. Sri Lanka needs more entrepreneurial development to fuel economic growth. Through Highway to a 100 Unicorns, we will enable start-ups in Sri Lanka to drive digital innovation in the region. We look forward to walking with founders along their growth journey and supporting them to scale and achieve more.”
Emerge X competition
Innovators and entrepreneurs from a total of 16 countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) are invited to be a part of the Highway to a 100 Unicorns initiative.
To be considered, start-ups will first have to submit an application for Emerge X competitions in their countries. Criteria for start-ups to apply for Emerge X are as follows:
1. Business-to-business companies with product-market fit, revenue generating with at least three to four clients.
2. Business-to-customer companies with a large customer base (upward of 100K customers) and are revenue generating.
3. Funding is a plus.
All Emerge X start-ups will be awarded with free Github and Azure credits and focused business and technology workshops. Three finalists per country will be announced in November. They will additionally benefit from a yearlong mentorship with technical and business deep dives, a Founder Bootcamp over three days, access to enterprise clients globally t hrough Microsoft’s unique co-sell programme as well as opportunities to interact with Microsoft experts and industry stalwarts.
Apply for the Emergex competition:
■ Submitan application on Growthenabler: https://aka.ms/highway
■ Start- ups must bring their Growthenabler profile to 80 percent to be considered.
■ Applications close on October 31, 2020
■ For any support, please contactvkashe@microsoft.com