Startups Bangalore-bound for the Microsoft BizSpark Challenge National Finals

Startups Bangalore-bound for the Microsoft BizSpark Challenge National Finals

BANGALORE, India, June 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

    A talented convoy of India's brightest startups will assemble in Bangalore on Friday,
June 7, eager to be the 2013 winner of the Microsoft BizSpark India Startup Challenge - an
annual platform celebrating entrepreneurial excellence across the country by helping
fast-track the success of young startups with software, support and visibility, providing
a platform for the best startups in India to gain national recognition. Winning startups
across Regions will be rewarded with combined cash grants of $ 70,000 as well as $2
million worth of non-cash prizes. One national winner and two runners-up will also receive
product prizes and design branding packages to help further achieve their business plans.

    The teams travelling to Bangalore have already won in their first-of-a-kind regional
finals over the last few weeks, and are now set to face each other in the much anticipated
Grand Finale. Now in its third year, the BizSpark India Startup Challenge has expanded to
represent a bigger and more diverse competition, with winners from 10 regional finals held
in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Cochin, New Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Coimbatore and
Bangalore forming the pool for the final line-up.

    Microsoft's Accelerator facility in Bangalore will play venue to the national finale.
Rajinish Menon, Microsoft India's Director of ISV and Cloud Strategy, expressing the
collective excitement, said, "The national finals represent the culmination of hard work,
application and achievement that these startups have showcased throughout a high-caliber
competition. This year's addition of regional finals to compose the selection of grand
finalists on show in Bangalore has further added to the quality of entries and has
demonstrated how local innovation and entrepreneurship is in good health in these cities."

    The finals follow in the footsteps of last year's event in Bangalore which saw Aurus
Networks picking up the grand prize in the Cloud Category, and NowFloats Technologies as
the winner under the Mobility category. Both startups have gone on to expand their
businesses since then.

            Those who are interested in witnessing the excitement at the National

                           Finals, please visit and register at

               http://www.microsoft.com/india/bizsparkstartupchallenge

    About BizSpark

    The Microsoft BizSpark Program has helped more than 2,725 Indian start-up
entrepreneurs by providing strong grounds to stand, grow and improve their functioning.
The idea behind Bizspark is to fast-track the success of young startups with software,
support and visibility. Selected start-up businesses receive business development and
technical training at highly subsidized or no costs. More information about the Bizspark
Program is available at http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark

    About Microsoft India

    Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for
personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services
designed to empower people through great software - at any time, any place and on any
device. Microsoft Corporation (India) Private Ltd is a subsidiary of Microsoft
Corporation, USA. It has had a presence in India since 1990 and currently has offices in
nine cities - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi
and Pune.

    For any media information, please contact:

    Sakshi Mathur | +91-9818714040| sakshi.mathur@hkstrategies.com

Microsoft India