Microsoft announced the third installment of its Microsoft Ventures Seattle Accelerator on Wednesday, this time focusing on data science and machine learning.
In a world where we’re creating more data then ever before and 90 percent of it is unstructured, the company says we’re about to enter a heyday for data-focused startups.
And Microsoft wants to be there to help them get off the ground.
The company is kicking off a cross-country tour to get out and meet potential companies, visiting tech hubs like Seattle, Palo Alto, Austin, Boston and Provo, Utah. The deadline to apply is Nov. 20, and 10 to 15 startups will be chosen in December. Participating companies get a helping hand from Microsoft experts as well as extra perks like access to Azure cloud services and a $25,000 grant.
“Our accelerator will support mature startups that have any manner of underlying data play across all verticals, including healthcare, genomics, agriculture, and finance, to name a few,” accelerator director Hanan Lavy wrote in a blog post announcing the program.
Microsoft first debuted its accelerator program during the summer of 2014 with a cohort of home automation startups and then earlier this year it welcomed “digital work” companies.
