The Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore picks its latest batch of startups

The Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore, India will soon welcome a ninth wave of local startups. According to a report from Tech in Asia, 13 startups have been chosen to join the four months program designed to help participants work on their go-to-market strategy.

This time, the local startup accelerator selected later stage startups companies who mainly work in the artificial intelligence and/or data analytics fields. Five companies have already accomplished series A rounds, and more than half the selected startups have an international presence. Here are the 13 startups that will join the program:

• AllizHealth, a company building a wellness & health analytics platform
• Betaout, a marketing automation platform
• Epictions, an intelligent marketing platform designed to
• Faircent, a community loan exchange platform
• FarEye, A customizable SaaS based mobility platform
• Germin8, a a Social Media Intelligence company
• Meddiff Technologies, a company developing medical teleimaging solutions
• Moveinsync, a a transport management platform
• Surukam Analytics, a company working on an artificial Intelligence solution to automate decision-making processes and workflows
• Talview, a video-mobile recruitment technology platform
• Transaction Analysts, a company developing payment solutions through smart card based prepaid cards
• Uncanny Vision (), a company company focused on Computer Vision on Embedded systems and IoT devices
• Whodat, an Augmented Reality Company focused on help consumers make informed decisions before buying a product!

Bala Girisaballa, CEO of Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore explained to Tech in Asia why the startup accelerator mostly chose startups focusing on AI and data analytics:

We are at the cusp of a new era where everything is about intelligence. It’s no longer about automation, it’s about tons and tons of data and what we do with it… Give it another ten years, I think artificial intelligence and data analytics will be in the DNA of every company.  I don’t think any company can be outside of this realm. This to me is a fundamental shift, and not just another vertical. It’s changing the sinew or fabric or DNA of every organization.

While the Microsoft Accelerator doesn’t take ram which takes no equity from the participants, it is important for Microsoft to remain a key player in the local startup ecosystem. Two years ago, a survey from the Economic Times rated the startup accelerator as the number one accelerator program in the region.