Microsoft Ventures along with Madrona Venture Group, Notion Capital, and Vertex Ventures Israel has announced Innovate.AI, a global startup competition for startups tackling with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Microsoft Ventures which was founded last year has already invested in over 40 AI startups such as Agolo, Bonsai, Livongo, CrowdFlower.
According to Microsoft Ventures: “The main objective of the competition is to bring together the most promising early-stage startups tackling currently unsolved problems at scale using Artificial Intelligence.”
The startup companies willing to participate in the competition must be from the regions, North America, Europe, and Israel. After meeting the requirements of the competition, the entrants will compete against each other. Up to 10 finalists will be selected for the finals who will have to take part in a live pitch-off in Seattle, Tel Aviv, and London where their ideas will be evaluated by a panel of experts from Microsoft Ventures and our VC partners. There will one winner for each region.
The winning teams from each region will be awarded $1 Million from Microsoft ventures and participating venture capital (VC) partners in investment funding and $500,000 in Azure Credits for three years, and 100 Office 365 licenses for a year and an Azure Standard support plan.
A standout winner will be awarded a $500,000 USD investment from Microsoft Ventures, $500,000 USD in Azure credits for 3 years, 100 Office 365 licenses for 1 year, and an Azure Standard support plan. In total, a combined $5.5 million as investment funds and Azure credits will be distributed across four winners. On a whole, $5.5 million USD will be distributed to the four winning companies as investment funds and Azure credits.
Check the eligibility criteria and submit your applications on the Microsoft Ventures website. The applications are open and the last date of submitting applications is before December 31, 2017. The finalists from each region will be selected on February 28 and the Live Finals will happen in Spring 2018.
