New Delhi, 19 November, 2020.

In its continued efforts to support the startup ecosystem in the country, Microsoft has launched a dedicated program for healthtech startups. The program is designed to help startups scale with advanced technology and joint go-to-market support. Microsoft is also collaborating with startup incubator Social Alpha to accelerate the growth of participating startups.

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of the healthcare system, disrupting continuity of healthcare delivery practices and patient access to high-quality medical care. Committed to address the most prevalent and persistent health and business challenges, Microsoft for HealthTech Startups aims to help entrepreneurs with technical support as well as resources for co-selling and co-building tech tools to achieve better outcomes across healthcare. The Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare unlocks the power of Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Power Platform, and enables startups to access a portfolio of released and new healthcare capabilities tailored to the unique requirements of health data in the cloud.

Sangeeta Bavi, Director – Startup Ecosystem, Microsoft India, said, “Being forced by the global pandemic to re think how healthcare services across the world operate, startups in this industry are reimagining solutions for some of the most pressing healthcare challenges. Technology innovation with advanced data and analytics capabilities is a critical enabler as we build trusted and reliable solutions at scale. The Microsoft for Healthtech Startups program deepens our focus on specific industries and is aimed to accelerate the growth journeys of startups with the best tech enablement and business resources.”

Spread across three tiers, the program offers a range of benefits:

·         All startups: Qualified Seed to Series C startups can boost their business with Azure benefits (including free credits), unlimited technical support and go-to-market resources with support for Azure Marketplace onboarding

·         Co-sell startups: Startups with enterprise-ready solutions can scale quickly with joint go-to-market strategies, technical support and new sales opportunities with Microsoft’s partner ecosystem 

·         Co-build startups: Startups that are looking to create healthcare solutions have access to Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, the first industry-specific cloud that brings together trusted and integrated capabilities to enrich patient engagement and connects teams for improved collaboration, decision-making, and operational efficiencies

Social Alpha has supported over 20 healthtech startups working across devices, diagnostics, treatment, access and quality/UX. The collaboration with Social Alpha will provide healthtech startups programmatic support through product innovation labs, sandbox pilots and structured incubation initiatives that offer knowledge services, bootcamps and masterclass sessions with mentors as well as tech and industry experts. As the startups accelerate, they receive access to go-to-market resources, ecosystem networking, angel networks and investor forums. Social Alpha supports entrepreneurs and innovators that enable social, economic and environmental change through their ‘lab to market’ journey by building access to technology and business incubation initiatives. 

Manoj Kumar, Founder and Chairperson of Social Alpha, said, “As we continue to grow the lab to market ecosystem for high impact start-ups in India, our portfolio companies need access to world-class technologies including in the areas of advanced cloud computing, data science and analytics. Our partnership with Microsoft for HealthTech startups will focus on enabling these companies fastrack their progress with some of the best technology resources and accelerate their innovation pathways.”

Building on its commitment to promote startup innovation, Microsoft is uniquely positioned to support healthtech startups with its advanced technology resources and a growing global partner network to scale across global markets.