As Indian startups begin to penetrate the world of SaaS, Microsoft has arrived has noted. The American technology giant launched 100X100X100, a program for business-to-business SaaS startups.
Microsoft said on Monday that 100X100X100 will bring 100 companies and 100 early and growth startups together. Each committed company will spend $ 100,000 over 18 months.
“This initiative will help achieve economies of scale and create amazing opportunities for startups. Companies can now accelerate their digital travel by simply introducing business solutions, ”said Anant Maheshwari, President of Microsoft India, in a statement.
Every startup that participates in the program also has access to potential customers at Microsoft industry and customer events. Attendees also get access to Microsoft’s technology platform and instructions for fine-tuning their business and expansion models.
Microsoft is not a new face in the Indian startup ecosystem. The company runs Microsoft for Startups, which enables early-stage B2B startups to take advantage of the company's Azure marketplace and corporate sales team. At the beginning of last year, the company also expanded the M12 corporate venture fund to India.
The company's global rival, Google and Amazon actively support startups in India, sponsor countless events, and offer a range of extras, including thousands of dollars in loans to use their cloud platforms.
The idea is simple: if the bets work, these startups are already customers and their solutions could be beneficial to tens of thousands of other customers. And it is a safe time to place these bets.
In recent years, numerous startups have emerged in India to develop SaaS software after companies like Freshworks worth $ 3.5 billion and CleverTap have been successful. Since SaaS startups don't build hardware or pay out loans, they often have the best profit margins.
Shekhar Kirani, partner at Accel, theinformationsuperhighway said in an interview recently that his biggest frustration was that not many entrepreneurs are building SaaS services anymore. "Anyone with some programming skills and a cheap laptop can build a service and sell it to the world," he said.
At a recent SaaS event, Godard Abel, managing director of the G2 business market, said that India is already one of the five largest nations for active participation in the development of new business services.
Expect further announcements for Microsoft this week as Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s general manager, will appear today and tomorrow at the company's flagship conference in the country.
