Tech giant Microsoft and Accenture to support 13 Indian social impact startups

Technology giant Microsoft and Accenture have announced the third cohort of the Project Amplify program with an aim to support 13 Indian startups with solutions focusing on cleantech, circularity, regenerative agriculture, education and skilling. 

According to the company's statement, the programme is aimed at offering hands-on support to help startups scale emerging solutions and business models for lasting societal and environmental benefits.

The Project Amplify initiative will support the 13 startups with testing and validating proof-of-concepts, reimagining the impact of their solutions through design thinking sessions, access to the latest technologies and guidance from experts at Microsoft and Accenture.

To help create scalable impact and curate innovative solutions for enterprise clients on their journey to meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) ambitions, the startups will have access to a host of go-to-market resources and Microsoft’s leading-edge technology solutions.

Launched in 2020, earlier cohorts of the program have concentrated on addressing challenges in food safety, livelihood, education, sustainability and skilling.

Statements:

“The dual crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change poses a threat to the health of our planet,” said Sanjay Podder, Managing Director and Technology Sustainability Innovation lead at Accenture. “Businesses have a critical role to play by joining hands with the vibrant startup ecosystem to advance innovative solutions that can help address these pressing challenges. Through our continued collaboration with Microsoft, we are applying our joint expertise to support social impact startups and help bring their solutions to our enterprise clients across the globe, scaling their impact.”

Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President of National Transformation Partnerships at Microsoft, said, “Innovators are finding new ways to harness technology, to scale purpose-driven social enterprises. At Microsoft, we are deeply inspired by the commitment of these positive impact entrepreneurs, who are focusing their passion for driving change to improve human health and the environment, advance social and economic equity, and much more. In collaboration with Accenture and as part of our Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact Initiative, we are humbled to support bold innovators in India, driving systemic change through their sustainable businesses.”

The program offers startups access to Microsoft technologies, including up to $150,000 in Azure credits, M365 and D365, Visual Studio and GitHub Enterprise access, enterprise-grade Azure engineering support, networking opportunities with other global social entrepreneurs and an array of go-to-market resources, the company release said.

The Selected Startups:

CogniTensor Technology: offers an AI-based predictive platform for the manufacturing industry that provides carbon computation for digital assets to assess and reduce emissions.

WEGoT Utility Solutions: provides solutions for monitoring and managing water in residential, commercial, municipal, agricultural and industrial segments.

Clairco: provides clean air and energy efficiency solutions for commercial buildings like malls, airports, technology parks and coworking spaces. Its indoor air filtration and energy efficiency technologies are based on nanotech, Internet of Things, AI and machine learning.

RootsGoods: an AI-based SaaS platform for quality assessment and management of agriculture crops post-harvest. It primarily works with maize and can reduce the post-harvest loss from 21% to 5% enabling the reduction in carbon emission by up to 30%.

Neo San: a clean-technology company working toward solutions in toxic waste management, carbon reduction and energy efficiency.

Pyse: an alternative investment platform for green and sustainable assets that provides retail investors with the opportunity to invest in sustainability projects for a fixed return starting at $10.

Respirer Living Sciences: builds Internet of Things solutions that help enable the effective monitoring and measurement of key parameters like air quality. Its sensor-based real-time air quality device helps users make better-informed decisions to improve and report ESG performance. 

Calculus Carbon: an environmental commodities asset management firm that helps connect global ESG capital with sustainable project developers in Southeast Asia.

Carbon Trail: provides software for the fashion industry to automate supply chain and product carbon accounting. 

UBreathe: a bio-tech startup that develops plant-based air purifiers that combine the natural air purifying capabilities of plants with modern technology by boosting a plant’s natural process of removing pollutants from the air with improved soil breathability.

Maithri Aquatech: utilizes atmospheric water generation principles to produce pure and drinkable water from the air without depending on groundwater or surface water sources.

SNAS IoT Laboratories: provides an Internet of Things-based building management system for large premises, covering energy management, chiller plant automation, remote sensor management, monitoring of circuit breaker panels, and power savings through lighting and HVAC automation.

Futurescape: offers a learning platform to build green skills for a circular economy.

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