Nine Dutch startups are joining Microsoft’s virtual ScaleUp program and Connecterra is one of them.
The nine participating startups are developing solutions for sectors such as energy, healthcare, smart technologies, agriculture and finance. The program, designed to offer support for startups who are at a tipping point of becoming a scale-up, shows Microsoft’s commitment to expanding its startup activities with the promotion of AI solutions that have the potential to become innovation drivers for the Netherlands.
Build, grow and connect
Microsoft will work with the participating founders on growth strategies for four months, with support from the Microsoft engineering team, access to customers, and free access to the Azure cloud platform. Participants also receive coaching on business topics like negotiation, pricing, strategy, marketing, storytelling, and talent development. In doing so, Microsoft is promoting technological progress, entrepreneurship and cultural transformation. “The Microsoft ScaleUp program in the Netherlands enables Dutch startups that build AI solutions on Azure to build, grow and connect through our ecosystem. These solutions have the potential to become innovation drivers for the Netherlands. We believe that organisations can harness the power of these AI solutions to achieve more and gain a competitive advantage,” says Cara Antoine, Director of Marketing & Operations at Microsoft Netherlands.
The Microsoft ScaleUp program
Microsoft ScaleUp is aimed at mature, later-stage startups in the expansion phase with completed seed financing, which solve problems in various industries and advance the development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence. The program’s goal is to support them in their growth. Over the course of four months, Microsoft ScaleUp offers a combination of in-person business coaching, online workshops and customised training sessions on the cloud platform Microsoft Azure.
AI for cows: Ida
Ida is the AI assistant for dairy farmers that is helping farmers run the world’s most efficient dairy farm. Improves farm efficiency by over 30 percent by learning the behaviour of dairy cows and dairy farmers’ operational practices.
To read the full press release from Microsoft, you can click here.
