Bengaluru has joined the elite league of cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, London and Tel Aviv where the world’s largest tech company, Microsoft, has its venture fund offices.
Microsoft said that its venture fund (M12) office located in India’s Silicon Valley, Bengaluru, will focus on investments in startups that provide enterprise software solutions. The tech giant will invest in the startups in early as well as late funding stages (Series A through D) that have local and cross-border solutions.
The office will pursue investment opportunities across the region, focusing on B2B software startups in the sectors of applied AI, business applications, infrastructure, security, and vanguard technologies, Microsoft said in a statement.
At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has cast its shadow on the investment market, Microsoft’s initiative is likely to aid startups in the country faced with a fund crunch. The global firm said that it had remotely invested in two startups Fareye and Innovacer in 2019 in India. The deep technical and business talent from India’s world-class engineering schools and major R&D centers are among the primary draws to the region, it added.
“Typically, we see the greatest hurdles in a startup’s journey as they scale from local success to global challengers, and then again when they go on to become category leaders. Both inflection points require specific and deep organizational strength, proven talent, GTM partnerships, and global investors. M12 is proud to be co-located in the region, and to bring experience and resources that will help startups successfully navigate these inflection points,” Abhi Kumar, India Lead for M12, (Microsoft’s venture fund) said.
M12 has so far invested in 90 companies globally since its inception in 2016. Post investment, the startups can either join the Portfolio development team at Microsoft or explore market, technology resources through the global firm’s connections. The M12 investors are also given a board seat as a part of their investments.