Microsoft is offering startups free credits for the Microsoft Azure Cloud Services platform as part of its BizSpark Plus program. The corporation, which is globally recognized as a software and cloud giant, has headquarters in Redmond, Virgina, USA. The move is intended to help the company gain a foot holding in the startup community and compete with cloud competitors such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google.
To facilitate the provision of free Microsoft Azure credits, the corporation has partnered with a number of " accelerators" and "incubators" - companies that provide support and advise to startups. These companies include Techstars, ERA, MassChallenge, and Seedcamp. Startups that qualify will receive $10,000 in free credits per month for a period up to a year. They must be less than 5 years old and be private companies to qualify. They must also receive less than $1 million per year in revenue.
“We have spent a tremendous amount of time listening to better understand what startups need to be successful,” suggested the President of Developer Platform and Evangelism at Microsoft’, Steve Guggenheimer in his MSDN blog. "From deeper support for open source technologies and tools on Azure to running and managing 7 accelerators in 7 countries, via our Microsoft Ventures programs, we’re taking the feedback to heart."
"If you’re interested in taking part in this program, we encourage you to reach out to your local accelerator to see if you qualify and visit Microsoft.com/startups to learn more about the program," he added.
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