Bengaluru, Jan 17 (IANS): Data storage and management company NetApp on Thursday announced the graduation of its third cohort of six start-ups as part of the NetApp Excellerator Programme.

The programme is designed to help enterprise start-ups achieve their full potential through mentorship with one of NetApp's largest R&D teams.

The six start-ups -- CloudOptimo, InstaSafe, FirstHive, Praktice.ai, Cardiotrack and Zscore Technologies -- focus on technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud, cyber security and analytics, applied in wide-impact areas like operations, marketing and healthcare.

"After evaluating over a thousand start-ups and closely working and mentoring 18 of them, we are able to look back with some degree of satisfaction that we have been able to make a difference in the deep-tech and B2B start-up ecosystem," said Ajeya Motaganahalli, Senior Director and leader of the NetApp Excellerator Programme.

At the third Demo Day, the start-ups presented their products to a panel of venture capitalists, prominent industry leaders and top NetApp executives where the company provided an equity-free grant of $15,000 to each of the participating start-ups.

"Our aim is to bring together technology know-how and innovation, and our alumni have reaffirmed our success through theirs," said Deepak Visweswaraiah, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, NetApp India.

Applications for the fourth cohort are open for registration. The company said start-ups working in areas related to hybrid cloud, AI, Internet of Things (IoT), data management and adjacent technology domains can apply for selection.