Meet the 13 startups picked for the 2nd batch of Microsoft's acceleration programme

Microsoft India has announced a list of 13 technology startups for its second incubation programme. Also, from 2013 onwards, the Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure programme will host two batches every year and expand the batch size as well.

The four-month long incubation programme for the new batch will start on March 1 while applications for the next batch will be accepted from May 1.

Announcing the second batch, Mukund Mohan, CEO-in-residence at Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure, said, "Apart from India and the US, we even received applications from countries like Spain and Australia. Given the success of our first acceleration programme concluded recently, we have decided to host two batches every year and also expand each batch size. This is our summer batch. The winter batch will open up for application on May 1."

The 13 startups selected for the programme will have access to a 100-plus mentor network, both from within and outside India. Plus, they will be connected to the accelerator's vast network of early adopters.

Microsoft received more than 350 applications for the current batch and the final 13 were selected after rounds of screening by a panel of judges comprising senior leaders from the industry and also from Microsoft.

Here is a sneak peak at the summer batch of startups.

360Living: A digital hub for health & wellness information. The company claims that through its social media platform, it is defining the new field of 'interactive health' to provide consumers with health & wellness information online and immediate access to actionable information. It facilitates the search for credible health & wellness information through Q&A, personalised content, support groups and tracking tools. The startup leverages the internet, mobile and offline channels to connect individuals with health & wellness experts.

Adepto: A social marketing platform that can potentially give any brand the power of a bespoke app on a SaaS platform. It allows marketers to update content within the app in a very short span of time and as frequently as desired.

Deck App: It helps create simple presentation/slideshows on mobile devices. A free app, Deck is available on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. Users can transform traditional presentations to animated ones that will work on any Flash-enabled device. One can also use custom pictures and images, stored locally on an iPad.

Frintit: An app which lets you print and receive hard-copy prints of your photos for free – from the web and from your mobile.

Harness Handitouch: An educational technology startup, Harness has developed a new learning OS called Touch-on-Cloud. It is an innovation extending from the hardware to the software layer, harnessing the tablet revolution, the cloud promise and the combined power of human intelligence and digital content.

I7 Networks: It offers Indian companies a suite of products to help manage web content classification and ensures efficient bandwidth management. Companies can get to know what exactly is happening on their bandwidth.

Label Guild: A marketplace for designers and buyers.

Profoundis Labs: A business data analytics firm with focus on Semantic sentiment analysis of social data across the web. It works with high volumes of data to analyse and generate actionable insights.

Qubole Data Service: Analytics tool running on leading cloud platforms like AWS. Targeted towards data analysts, data scientists and ETL engineers, it can help users start data analysis in a matter of minutes.

SupportBee: Offers help desk software to manage customer support e-mail. Plus, one can assign and track tickets and everything auto-updates in real time.

TableGrabber: An online restaurant reservation engine, currently covering Delhi and Mumbai. Now users can get confirmed reservations and book tables at their favourite restaurants for free in a simple and convenient manner. They can also avail of exclusive deals and offers at these restaurants. The reservation engine provides real-time update of table availability, which makes it convenient for users to make reservations on the fly.

Tuebora: Provides cloud-based identity & access governance and compliance solutions to organisations. While managing and controlling access to enterprise resources are key to any solution in the IAG domain, Tuebora is unique as it focuses on the weakest link in the entire governance cycle "the actual data and resources being accessed. By combining the intelligence regarding who can access what, when and for how long with what access changes are occurring for a data asset tagged critical, Tuebora takes a 360-degree view on access and the risks posed on enterprise data.

Visarity: Aims to create augmented reality (AR) creation and distribution platform for marketers. Its mobile app called Flikz provides movie-related information such as show time, trailers, ratings, news and recommendations, and has the ability to interact via AR. Users can scan any upcoming or in-theatre movie posters to interact (virtually) with their favourite characters, take photos and share those virtual interactions with everyone.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)