Microsoft, RIL initiative for start-ups

First start-up hub will start operations in Oct in Mumbai, and will be subsequently emulated across multiple cities in India

GenNext Ventures, the venture investment management arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), and Microsoft Ventures have signed a three-year partnership to set up GenNext Innovation Hubs, an initiative to ease the country’s start-up ecosystem.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by GenNext Ventures chairman and RIL board member R A Mashelkar and Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik.

The first hub will start operations next month at Navi Mumbai.

GenNext Innovation Hubs aim to bring together academia, students, entrepreneurs, investors and companies and offer resources.

"While several initiatives are on to help start-ups, what is lacking is a national platform that seamlessly brings together all stakeholders and also provides the resources Indian start-ups need to be successful. That’s what we are aiming at through GenNext Innovation Hubs," said Mashelkar.

Microsoft Ventures will help GenNext identify and shortlist promising start-upss. Microsoft Ventures will also provide these start-ups access to software and technology advice. At the end of this cycle, GenNext will invest strategically and selectively in some of these IT start-ups.

At Bangalore, Microsoft Ventures has three units--accelerators, community and fund. Accelerators offer programmes aimed at bringing down the launch programmes for start-ups, community is where Microsoft team mingles with the entrepreneurial community in the region providing technical support and sponsorship. Fund unit provides entrepreneur-friendly investments to early-stage companies.

The Innovation Hub in Mumbai will provide the opportunity to a select group of entrepreneurs to launch or re-engineer their company through a four-month-long programme. The programme schedule would include: workshops for entrepreneurs, mentor meetings, access to customers and investors and weekly business reviews.

The venture has around 25 mentors associated with it including: Vijay Bhatkar (Scientist and architect of India's first supercomputer); Prof Ashwin Gumaste (IIT Bombay) and Sasha Mirchandani (Managing Partner of Kae Capital and Co-founder Mumbai Angels) among others.