Microsoft kicked off the first ever Global Startup Roadshow last June. Fifteen participating companies were chosen from a list of over 500 startups that achieved global success and aim to introduce their products to the U.S. market. CEOs of the selected startups spent a week in Seattle and Silicon Valley meeting enterprises, investors, and Microsoft executives, including CEO Satya Nadella.
“We believe in enabling industry-disrupting technologies to leverage the Microsoft network of connections and resources in order to grow their solutions and succeed in new markets,” said Amir Pinchas, head of operations and portfolio Microsoft Accelerator. “We want to provide the perfect stepping stone for startups with technologies that could change the way enterprises work.”
Mickey Bresman, the CEO of participating Semperis, believed that the opportunity was a unique and helpful opportunity to grow.
“Our products provide enterprise identity protection through integration with Microsoft Active Directory, implemented on Azure or on-premises,” said Bresman. “Having the opportunity to present our solutions and gain this type of exposure is a testament to the importance Microsoft sees in these new technologies and we are honored to be a part of this innovative group.”
The fifteen participating startups are located all over the world and represent many different industries from IoT to HR. One example is Woo.io, an app that allows people to find out how much they’re in demand in the tech industry so they can make smarter decisions about their career.
Two very interesting participants are MastMobile, a mobile communication platform for the modern workplace, and Siemplify, the first end-to-end security operations platform, powering today’s advanced SOCs.
“Testin (mobile QA), is one of our alumni that graduated from the Microsoft Accelerator Program in Beijing, and already operates in the U.S. $64.8M in funding, and up to today, has served 718,522 developers with their 1,751,270 apps; 15% of their users are from outside of China, mostly in the U.S.” says Amir Pinchas, Principal of Microsoft Accelerator.
The Microsoft Global Startup Roadshow is part of the Microsoft Accelerator program, a global initiative built to empower entrepreneurs around the world on their journey to build great companies. Microsoft works with late-stage startups to provide the tools, resources, connections, knowledge, and expertise they need to become successful. Microsoft’s goal is to help startups mature into enterprise-ready companies by scaling every aspect of their business.
Photo: Flickr / Mike Mozart