Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai Gains Solid Ground Amid Shanghai City 2020 Plan
Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai hosted a graduation and demo day for its most recent batch of startups. The cohort is the second to graduate since the Accelerator launched in January 2017. Following an intensive 4-6 month period of acceleration, the 15 startups have received new rounds of funding totaling 900 million RMB.
The graduation and demo day is a fitting contribution to Shanghai's 2035 urban plan announced at the end of 2017. The plan aims to transform Shanghai into an innovative, people-centered, and eco-friendly metropolis by 2035 with a resident population cap of 25 million. The most populous city proper in the world, Shanghai aims to approach such ambitious goals through technological innovation, an essential factor to transforming the city's economy.
Shanghai has also initiated a plan to develop itself into a global innovation center in science and technology by 2020, to which Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai is an active contributor. As of today, the Accelerator has graduated 29 startups in the coastal metropolis.
These burgeoning companies are pushing the edge of technologies like cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things. Their solutions are built for industry applications in fintech, smart retail, autonomous cars, and other industries in need of digital transformation for Shanghai to drive its rapid development.
As of today, the total market valuation for Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai's 29 alumni has reached RMB 28.8 billion, with post-incubation growth at over 290 percent. The graduates have each been valued at more than 100 million RMB, with 19 valued between 100 million and 1 billion RMB, nine valued between 1 and 5 billion RMB and one valued between 5 and 10 billion RMB. All have received Microsoft Azure resources and technology support.
Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai works with ecosystem partners to connect startups with industry resources, including direct access to enterprise customers. Data Grand, a company from the second cohort, has won several international data mining championships hosted by the Association of Computing Machinery.
Data Grand, owner of over 30 patents, also works with Fudan University Text Mining Lab on fundamental research. During their time with Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai, Data Grand developed a Microsoft Office plug-in to provide text mining capabilities for general productivity. Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai also worked with PwC China to connect Data Grand with large enterprises and successfully land a partnership with the HR department of Budweiser China.
