Microsoft partners with India space agency to work with startups

Microsoft plans to collaborate with the Indian space agency to give Indian space tech startups free access to cloud tools, the two said Thursday, the latest in the U.S. tech giant's attempts to deepen its ties with young firms

Microsoft will provide space tech startups with go-to-market support and help them become enterprise ready as part of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Space Research Organization.

Microsoft will give free access to a number of tools and resources to the startups that are onboarded to it. Building and scaling on Azure is one of the tools that are included.

The Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization said that the collaboration with Microsoft will benefit space tech startups in their analysis and processing of vast amounts of satellite data.

There is a useful platform for bringing together startups and providers of technology solutions. To benefit the Indian economy as a whole, we are happy to work together.

The Indian space tech companies are having a good time.

The Indian government established the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center to allow private companies to use the infrastructure of the Indian Space Research Organization. The commercial arm of the space agency was established to work with private companies.

The private sector received a boost after the launch of the Vikram-S. The Vikram-S is a single-stage, spin-stabilized solid-propellant rocket with a mass of over 500 grams. The customer from outside India is one of the customers that it carries.

According to an official response shared in the upper house of the country's parliament in December, the South Asian nation has over 100 space startups.

While GIC-backed Skyroot is into developing launch vehicles, other companies are building satellites.

According to the data shared by the Indian Space Association, Indian space startups raised over $245.35 million, with $108.72 million infused in just one year.

Microsoft has made a lot of announcements in India this week as the company's CEO is in the region. The company said earlier this week that two banks have signed up for Microsoft cloud services.