CloudSEK, Senseforth.ai among NetApp accelerator programme graduates

Hybrid cloud data solutions provider NetApp has announced the graduation of its fifth cohort as part of its acceleration programme NetApp Excellerator. The five startups from this cohort are CloudSEK, Senseforth.ai, Lightwing, Coralogix and Curl Analytics.

The NetApp Excellerator programme is designed to help startups create innovative, world-class products and solutions that are market-ready. With this graduation, the programme tally is at 29 business-to-business technology startups, the Sunnyvale, California headquartered company said in a statement.

“The fifth cohort marked the launch of an evolved model where the startups built paid PoCs (proof of concept), which will give them stronger go-to-market opportunities and drive exponential growth. We too have made great strides since our first cohort. Today, we are attracting new-age disruptive companies from around the world,” Madhurima Agarwal, leader, NetApp Excellerator, said.

Last year, Adya (first cohort) was acquired by Qualys. Then ArchSaber, from the second cohort, and VitaCloud from the first cohort, have also had successful exits. Other startups like SigTuple, Anlyz and FirstHive have secured the next round of funding.

The NetApp team, in collaboration with industry-renowned external mentors, will guide the startups on cutting-edge technologies, platforms, tools and business acumen. The participating startups will get access to investors and NetApp’s customer portfolio, and also receive an equity-free grant of $15,000 or a NetApp-sponsored PoC, the statement said.

The entrepreneurs pitched innovations in the space of AI, machine learning-powered log analytics, conversational AI, intelligent automation and digital risk management. 

“We continue to innovate across our ecosystem and these young startups enable our customers to change their world with data... Their ability to disrupt the tech ecosystem and their vision to drive economic growth is inspiring. Our role as an accelerator is to catapult them to achieve success in delivering compelling solutions to meet customers’ needs,” said Ravi Chhabria, MD, NetApp India.

Next on the cards

The registrations for the sixth cohort are open. Data-driven B2B technology product startups with interests in the areas of hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence, internet of things, DevOps, Kubernetes and data management are invited to apply, the company added.

Last year in November, NetApp appointed Ravi Chhabria as the managing director of its global centre of excellence in India. In June last year, announced a slew of solutions and services that will allow customers to adopt and consume cloud more on their terms.

Also Watch: Data is the new business capital: Anil Valluri, NetApp

In 2018, NetApp announced its startup accelerator programme for India Escape Velocity, which will aim to nurture technology startups in the country.