NetApp Excellerator launches 5th cohort with five start-ups in the artificial intelligence industry

NetApp announced the launch of its fifth cohort of start-ups as part of NetApp Excellerator, the company’s accelerator program. The start-ups were selected based on how their products and solutions could be aligned with NetApp’s business to deliver solutions to customers. The NetApp Excellerator program has mentored 24 start-ups through its previous four cohorts and is set to accelerate a new batch of data-driven enterprises.

CloudSEK, Senseforth.ai, Lightwing, Coralogix and Curl Analytics are the five data-driven start-ups that have made it to the fifth cohort of this program. The core technology for all these start-ups is data. It is the rocket fuel for artificial intelligence, which these start-ups are employing in fintech, cyber security, conversational AI, digital risk management and machine learning-powered log analytics and IoT solutions for industrial automation.

Coralogix, an Israel-based startup, brings with it experiences of the vibrant and thriving start-up community of Israel. NetApp Excellerator’s offerings will help cohort 5 start-ups build a strong technology foundation for their business.

NetApp has formed strategic alliance partnerships with eight select start-ups from previous cohorts to co-create solutions and go-to-market with them. FirstHive, Cardiotrack, ZScore, Scalend, BlobCity, SigTuple, Nanobi and SecurelyShare are the strategic alliance partners from the strong alumni network of the program. The current cohort will witness the launch of an evolved model where select start-ups will build paid proof-of-concepts (POCs) with NetApp, which gives the start-ups a platform to prove the potential of their solutions in the real-world.

Commenting on the impact value of the program, Madhurima Agarwal, leader, NetApp Excellerator, said: “Our start-up accelerator program is attracting new-age disruptive companies from around the world and that is a proof of the value we have added to our alumni, enabling them to create tangible commercial success with respect to funding, customer acquisitions and successful exits. Now, we are at an inflection point in this accelerator journey, where we will focus on paid proof-of-concepts with select start-ups, giving them avenues to evaluate themselves and demonstrate the business and technology viability of their product or solution. This will lead to stronger go-to-market opportunities for them.”

Since its inception, the accelerator program has been disrupting the start-up ecosystem to drive growth of the B2B start-ups in the niche data-driven market led by AI, ML, IoT and advanced tech.

Deepak Visweswaraiah, senior vice president and managing director, NetApp India said: “There are newer problems emerging in the market that require ability and agility of solutions. It is exciting to jointly embark on a quest with a diverse set of data-driven start-ups with unconventional ideas to drive business results for customers. The founders of the 5th cohort are extremely passionate and driven. We will provide resources to help them make breakthroughs in products, streamline the go-to-market strategy, rapidly scale the customer-base and secure investments.”

During the four-month program, each of the cohort 5 start-ups will receive technical and business mentorship and support to develop market ready products and solutions, access to NetApp’s technologies, a co-working space and HR, legal and tech support. In addition, the start-ups will be given networking opportunities with potential investors, partners, and customers. NetApp will sponsor a POC or offer an equity free grant of $15,000 to the graduating start-ups.