M12, formerly Microsoft Ventures, is a corporate venture capital subsidiary of
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
. Founded in March 2016,
its mission is to be an active, strategic partner during a startup's growth, typically investing between Series A and D. The fund is managed by
Michelle Gonzalez, formerly of
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
.
History
Background
Microsoft Ventures was used as an umbrella for all of Microsoft's accelerator and seed-stage funding operations.
[
In August 2014, Microsoft Ventures and the Deshpande Foundation launched the Sandbox Startups incubator with an initiative to set up a 20,000 square feet area for incubation in the city of ]Hubli
Hubli, officially known as Hubballi, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad distr ...
. The main intention of this initiative was to ensure that better entrepreneurial support would be given to those who reside outside big metropolises in India, removing the inevitability of having to relocate to such places.
Official founding
In March 2016, Microsoft launched the Microsoft Ventures venture capital fund
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...
. The operation previously known as Microsoft Ventures was renamed Microsoft Accelerator, with a focus on "start-up enablement" instead of startup investments.[
]
Investments
On April 11, 2017, it was reported that the security company Synack
Synack is an American technology company based in Redwood City, California. The company uses a crowdsourced network of white-hat hackers to find exploitable vulnerabilities and a SaaS platform enabled by AI and machine learning to identify expl ...
had raised $21 million from Microsoft Ventures, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) is an American multinational information technology company based in Spring, Texas, United States.
HPE was founded on November 1, 2015, in Palo Alto, California, as part of the splitting of the H ...
, and Singtel
Singapore Telecommunications Limited, commonly known as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate and one of the four major telcos operating in the country. The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with ...
. In late 2017, the company has invested in artificial intelligence with a new AI startup competition, and 3-D printing
3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality
* Three-dimensional space
** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data
** 3D film, a ...
with Markforged. In March 2019, Markforged raised $82 million in venture funding, with M12 contributing.
In March 2019, the company invested in Skedulo, a work scheduling company. In June 2019, M12 invested in AnyVision, a facial recognition company. After reporting by NBC news on the use of its technology in the West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
and Gaza Strip, Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
hired Eric Holder, former US Attorney General, to conduct an audit of the company to ensure that it complies with Microsoft's ethical principles on biometric surveillance.
In Jan 2020, it was announced that Microsoft Venture in a new round had taken a stake in SuperAwesome. In March 2020, Microsoft Ventures and Honeywell Ventures are in talks with FarEye to invest $40 million in the Logistics startup.
Also in March 2020, M12 announced it would lead a $22 million Series B funding round in San Francisco-based fraud prevention platform Arkose Labs
Arkose () or arkosic sandstone is a detrital sedimentary rock, specifically a type of sandstone containing at least 25% feldspar.
Arkosic sand is sand that is similarly rich in feldspar, and thus the potential precursor of arkose.
Quartz is c ...
Name change to M12
In April 2018, Microsoft Ventures changed its name to M12, to avoid confusion with a previous accelerator program of the same name. The M stands for Microsoft, and the 12 refers to the number of letters in the word entrepreneur.
Accelerator Plus program
Zoomcar
Zoomcar is an Indian car sharing platform, headquartered in Bangalore. The company was founded in 2013 by David Back and Greg Moran. It currently operates in 34+ cities.
History
American duo David Back & Greg Moran, met while studying at the ...
was a member of Microsoft's Accelerator Plus program in Bangalore in Spring 2014. This program is designed to provide more tailored assistance to later-stage start-ups as they scale their business and raise capital. In March 2015, Tripdelta took part in the third batch of the Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
Ventures Accelerator in Berlin.[Berlin Accelerator Kicks Off Batch 3 with 8 Diverse Startups]
Microsoft Ventures. In October 2015, Farmflo was selected to join the Microsoft Ventures Accelerate Programme in London. Appknox was a graduate of the fifth batch of the Microsoft Ventures program.
See also
*Microsoft Partner Ecosystem
Microsoft Partner Network or MPN, formerly known as the Microsoft Partner Program or MSPP, is Microsoft Inc.'s partner network which is designed to make resources available to a wide variety of technology companies so they can build a business ar ...
*Microsoft Innovation Center
Microsoft Innovation Centers (MICs) are local government organizations, universities, industry organizations, or software or hardware vendors who partner with Microsoft with a common goal to foster the growth of local software economies. These ...
*List of mergers and acquisitions by Microsoft
Microsoft is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official Website
Microsoft
Financial services companies established in 2016
Venture capital firms of the United States