Microsoft Strengthens Its Commitment to Entrepreneurs and Launches a Program Aimed at Accelerating Startup Growth

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Microsoft announced the launch of Microsoft for Startups, a new program
that delivers access to business, technology and community benefits that
help startups grow their customer and revenue base, build on a
dependable platform that scales with them and connect to their community
and customers.

Over the next two years, Microsoft is committing $500M to offer
co-selling options to startups as well as access to technology and new
community spaces that promote collaboration within local ecosystems.
Through this initiative, Microsoft is partnering with founders and
investors to accelerate the growth of startups as drivers of innovation.

The Microsoft for Startups program is especially significant to the
Hispanic community in the United States, as it is estimated that
Hispanics lead more than 4 million companies in the United States.

Envisagenics is one of these companies that has worked with Microsoft to
accelerate its growth. Founded by Maria Luisa Pineda in New York,
Envisagenics is a bioinformatics startup and its mission is to promote
the creation of therapies for new diseases by reducing the complexity of
biomedical big data. “DNA and RNA sequencing has revolutionized medical
research—these data could be the key to unlocking cures for countless
diseases,” said Pineda. With the Microsoft for Startups program, the
company’s cloud-based platform will enable efficient analysis of this
complex data for the discovery of new therapies.

The new program is designed to help startups:

Sell into new customers, industries and markets. Microsoft for
Startups takes a unique approach that connects startups with
customers. Microsoft has over 30,000 sales representatives and 800,000
partners whose goal is to drive adoption of Microsoft cloud solutions
into companies of all sizes and industries worldwide. The program
provides resources that prepare their marketing and sales teams to meet
enterprise customer standards and then enable them to sell into these
organizations in partnership with Microsoft’s vast sales organization
and partner ecosystem.

Rapidly innovate with access to trusted technology, support and
development tools. The program provides startups with up to $120k in
free Azure credits, enterprise grade technical support and development
tools to help them build innovative solutions on the cloud trusted by
90% of Fortune 500 companies

Access the right resources at the right time. Microsoft for
Startups helps startups at every stage in ecosystems around the world:

• Microsoft Reactors are physical spaces
  where entrepreneurs, developers, investors and the business community
  can come together to interact, learn and share.
• Access to Microsoft ScaleUp (formerly
  Microsoft Accelerators), helping Series A and later stage startups
  achieve product market fit, hone their infrastructure, and build their
  businesses using Azure and Microsoft Dynamics services.
• Connections with Microsoft Ventures,
  Microsoft’s strategic venture capital investment team, whose mission
  is to be an active partner at key stages of a startup’s growth,
  typically investing between Series A and D.

Contacts

Microsoft Latinx
Erika Cruz, 305-358-9500
microsoftlatinx@edelman.com