Microsoft has launched its Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub in Asia, to empower startups’ ambitions and fuel innovation to drive economic and societal progress for Asia and beyond.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a new digital and truly inclusive platform for Founders in Asia. The platform offers over US$300,000 worth of benefits and credits, giving startups free access to the technology, tools, and resources they need to build and run their business.
From the most trusted, secure, open-source friendly and compliant cloud platform, to best-in-class developer and productivity tools including GitHub Enterprise, Visual Studio Enterprise and Microsoft 365.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub will empower entrepreneurs to innovate and grow by connecting them with mentors who will provide them with industry, business, and technical support to guide them through their next business milestones.
In addition, Founders will have access to Microsoft Learn and a variety of startup and unicorn programs to help them build connections with customers and accelerate their growth.
The Hub is designed specifically for early-stage startups to lower the barriers of business creation, be a catalyst for entrepreneurship and innovation, and contribute to easing the journey from an idea to a unicorn.
It is available to all startups in Asia, including those without third-party backing, as part of Microsoft’s commitment to empower startups’ ambitions to drive innovation from Asia to the world.
“Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub was created following extensive research and conversations with hundreds of founders who explicitly shared their need for access to a digital ecosystem that promotes opportunities and democratizes innovation regardless of background, location, progress, or passions. We look forward to how our new offering will support more founders in Asia and provide access to the technology, tools, and resources they need to build and run their business,” explained Jesus Martin, Chief Strategy, Microsoft Asia.
Across Asia, Microsoft cloud is the platform of choice to empower the ambition of startups whether consumer or B2B SaaS solutions to enable them to scale across Asia and globally.
In China over the past ten years, Microsoft has supported the growth of over 700 start-ups and the Microsoft ScaleUp Program has been ranked as “Best Accelerator” in China for 6 years in a row by China Venture Info. Yanchao Li, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of six-month old startup, Shopastro, has since rapidly scaled the cross-border e-commerce service platform with Microsoft cloud.
“My ambition has been to empower local sellers to leverage Shopastro as a powerful platform to take their businesses and products beyond China and into the global market. Thanks to Microsoft cloud we have been able to scale our business.”
Microsoft continues to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to Asia’s startup ecosystem and founders. This has included a multi-year partnership with global startup platform She Loves Tech, announced last year, to provide women-led startups in the community with access to Microsoft technologies, dedicated programs and global ecosystem.
Microsoft also expanded Project Amplify, in collaboration with Accenture to support startups across Asia focused on sustainability and social impact, with hands-on support and technologies, mentoring and collaboration opportunities.
“Microsoft believes startups from Asia have the potential to change the world. In fact, they have already played a role in transforming Asia’s economy. Asian-born businesses have changed e-commerce, fintech, social media and gaming. They have given us SuperApps, which are changing the way we live. As the cloud platform of choice, we will continue to work with our partners and regional ecosystem to get technology and resources in the hands of startup founders in Asia, to empower them to innovate and ultimately succeed,” concluded Martin.