IDG Ventures India and Microsoft India today announced a funding programme under which the former intends to invest up to Rs 100 crore in start ups.
With this partnership, a start up gets Microsoft suite of tools and technologies free for three years, as well as access to funding of up to Rs 25 crore by IDG Ventures, officials of two entities said.
The programme is open to technology companies that are under three-year old, and whose annual revenues are less than Rs 5 crore.
Companies meeting the criteria would be offered access to development softare at no upfront cost through Microsoft's BizSpark programme, announced last December in India, providing start ups software and support during their first three years with no upfront costs. Start ups meeting the investment criteria of the venture capital firm would be provided access to funding of up to Rs 25 crore.
"The partnership with IDG Ventures and their commitment of this corpus of funds gives deserving start-ups a chance to really accelerate their growth", Microsoft India Managing Director Rajan Anandan said.
IDG Ventures Chairman and Managing Director Sudhir Sethi said: "We plan to identify at least three to four innovative technology companies through the programme and invest up to Rs 100 crore."