Hyderabad, Jan 13 (IANS): Microsoft on Monday said it has selected 54 tech startups from five states -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Kerala and Telangana - and three from each state (total 15) will finally win a year-long mentorship programme and a two-day founder bootcamp.

The selected startups are part of Microsoft's 'Highway to a Hundred Unicorns' initiative that works with local governments to strengthen the start-up ecosystem in each state.

The top tech startups were selected through 'Emerge-X' competition and win Azure credits and a host of business and tech benefits.

"Through 'Highway to a Hundred Unicorns', we've been able to reach some highly promising innovators from each of the five statesm" said Lathika Pai, Country Head, Microsoft for Startups - MENA and SAARC.

"In the next phase of our journey, we look forward to engaging with more startups and accelerating their growth and providing them with Microsoft's platform to go global," she added.

The competition received over 530 applications. The fifth edition of the competition was organized in Hyderabad in association with the Telangana government.

More than 650 startups that participated in total five such events so far have benefited from the mentorship and guidance through technology workshops on Azure, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.