Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Microsoft Launches New Venture Investment Effort, Microsoft Ventures

Microsoft said late Monday that it has launched a new, venture investment effort, Microsoft Ventures, which will help invest across its customers, partners, and the ecosystem. The new effort--being led by Peggy Johnson and Nagraj Kashyap--said it has formalized a venture fund, which will initially focus on the SF/Bay area, Seattle, New York City and Tel Aviv, and focus on identifying the "bleeding-edge companies who complement and leverage the transition to the cloud". The new effort is not to be confused with the now renamed Microsoft Accelerator, the startup acceleration effort formerly known as Microsoft Ventures, which offers up tools--but not equity--to startups, based on Microsoft's software products.