Bengaluru, Apr 5 (IANS): Microsoft "ScaleUp" on Thursday announced the 12th cohort consisting 12 start-ups for its programme to empower them with technology, go-to-market and community benefits.

ScaleUp (known previously as Microsoft Accelerator) focuses on late-stage B2B start-ups and helps them accelerate their business growth through mentorship, streamlined go-to-market (GTM) activities and access to world-class technology.

The 12 start-ups in the cohort are AppICE, Appiyo Technologies' Twixor, Avanseus Technologies, eGovernments Foundation, Gaia Smart Cities Solution, GrowthEnabler, Karo Sambhav, Kogence, MachineSense, SmartVizX, Sprinkle Data and Xurmo Technologies.

The selected start-ups are focused on areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Big Data Analytics, among others, to build solutions for the market.

During the six-month programme, these start-ups would work closely with Microsoft leaders, industry experts and leverage the Microsoft Partner Network to scale their business models and serve enterprise clients.

The start-ups would get access to Microsoft's expertise, infrastructure and Azure Cloud platform to build a strong technology backbone for their business.

Microsoft currently caters to over 5,000 tech start-ups and more than 200,000 large and small-and-medium businesses in India.