Microsoft has always been a strong proponent of digital transformation through an intelligent cloud. Microsoft India offers global cloud services from local data centers to step up the digital transformation across Indian-startups, businesses, and government organizations.
Microsoft lately announced the launch of a program for Agri-tech startups in India, that is focusing on transforming the agriculture sector. The Microsoft for Agritech Startups program is curated to help startups build industry-specific solutions, scaleup, and grow with access to deep technology, business, and marketing resources. The Agritech startups in India are hoping to reconstruct agriculture by developing innovative digital solutions to augment productivity and increase supply chain efficiency. In its efforts to strengthen the country’s startup biome, this program offers the best-in-class tech and business enablement resources to help agri-tech startups innovate and scale fast.
Startups can also get access to Azure FarmBeats, assisting them to focus on core value-adds instead of the undifferentiated heavy lifting of data engineering. Azure FarmBeats facilitates aggregation of agricultural datasets across crosswise providers and generates actionable acumens by building artificial intelligence/ machine learning models based on these compound datasets. This three-tier program offers benefits, including tech enablement and business resources. The key highlights of this program are as follows;
- Qualified seed to Series-C startups so as to boost their businesses and with Azure benefits including free credits and unlimited technical support is available.
- Startups providing enterprise-ready solutions can scale quickly with allied market strategies, technical support, and new sales opportunities with Microsoft’s partner ecosystem.
- Those startups that are hoping to create digital agri-solutions have the opportunity to co-build and customized solutions with Azure FarmBeats without investing in deep data engineering resources.
The program aims to create a platform for learning and innovation by bringing together startups, corporates, industry bodies, governments, and venture capital firms,. According to a recent Nasscom report, India is currently home to over 450 startups in the agri-tech sector, growing at a rate of 25% year on year. Sustainable agricultural technology is said to reconstruct the global food landscape. Agritech startup innovations are addressing some of the fundamental hurdles related to agriculture and food production. The Microsoft Agritech Startups program is among the first steps in the journey towards empowering green startups in India and an initiative to transform global agricultural practices.
