Among successes of the participating startups, Scalend Technologies becomes a NetApp Alliance Partner; others reap benefits from mentoring, investor and enterprise connections
Second cohort call for applications open to data driven startups

INDIA, Bangalore, December 12, 2017: Today NetApp, the data authority for the hybrid cloud, announced the graduation its first cohort of six startups during the NetApp Excellerator Demo Day. Located in the heart of Bengaluru’s technology neighborhood, the NetApp Excellerator program is NetApp’s first ever startup accelerator, designed to help enterprise startups to achieve their full potential through mentorship with one of NetApp’s largest R&D teams.

“NetApp mentorship helped us focus our market research, and identify the right target market and target customers we could go after” said Ravi Madhira, CEO, Scalend Technologies, one of the startups graduating from the NetApp Excellerator. “Offering us the support of its large and experienced sales machine, NetApp made the program even more compelling. Our new-found status as a NetApp Alliance Partner has given us a sure foothold in the data driven enterprise domain.”

The first NetApp Excellerator Demo Day event commemorated the completion of the first cohort, all six participating start-ups - Lightmetrics, Adya, Vaultedge, Vitacloud, Enclouden and Scalend, demonstrated their achievements and progress to venture capitalists, NetApp executives and prominent industry leaders present. Sports icon and entrepreneur, Anil Kumble, was the guest of honor for the demo day event held at the NetApp campus in Bangalore today. The event marked the culmination of the first cohort’s technology and market acceleration journey. Now as alumni, the startups will have continued access to mentorship and go-to-market opportunities with NetApp, as well as eco-system connects. They will also share their experiences with startups in the future cohorts.

“With our rich history of innovation and expertise in data management, we have been able to provide the right mentorship, both technical and sales related, to the startups in our first cohort. We leveraged expertise from across NetApp to help the six best startups selected from the 250 applications received. In addition, we got them the best-in-class global industry experts to help them qualify the target markets better and supplement their technical capabilities.” said Ajeya Motaganahalli, Director and leader of the NetApp Excellerator program.

Strong mentorship helps build credibility and confidence for the participating startups. For example, during their time in the program, one participant, Adya, raised an angel round of funding to the tune of USD 250,000.

Commenting on the program Deepak Visweswaraiah, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, NetApp India said, “Mentoring the start-ups in our very first cohort was a valuable learning experience for us. It allowed us to reconnect with the startup that we remain at heart. We will continue to support the startups through the NetApp Excellerator program and provide them with the best ecosystem to achieve success.”

Applications for the second cohort are now open. Selected startups will receive technology and business mentorship as well as access to markets and investors to realize the full potential of their ideas and products in the global market place. Applications are invited from startups working in the areas related to IOT, cloud, big data and analytics, machine learning, virtualization, data security, storage and data management, and other adjacent areas. To know more please visit startup.netapp.in/.

Startup	What they do
Adya	Provides a SaaS service to help companies protect their data in their cloud apps from overexposure and from insider threats
Scalend Technologies	Provides an AI enabled data discovery and insights platform for financial companies & services
Vaultedge	Helps lawyers complete contract reviews and due diligences faster using Artificial Intelligence.
Vitacloud	A digital health platform that empowers physicians to prevent, manage and reverse chronic diseases, using connected technology and data.
Lightmetrics	Solution makes driving safer & helps understand driver behaviour better by providing visual context to telematics
Enclouden	Delivers a proprietary zero-touch private cloud and VDI solution built on its own hyper converged platform for enterprises

About NetApp Excellerator
The NetApp Excellerator Program has been designed to help start-ups create innovative world-class products and solutions that are market-ready. The program enables start-ups to use NetApp expertise and its ecosystem of partners, subject matter experts and customers to realize the maximum potential of their innovative ideas. Startups that are selected will have access to NetApp platforms and technologies, tools, co-working space, HR, marketing, legal and tech support. NetApp will provide an equity free grant of USD 15,000 to these startups upon completion of the program. The startups own their IP (Intellectual Property) and NetApp would not seek a stake in the same.

For more information on this program and to apply, please visit startup.netapp.in; look us up at #NetAppExcellerator.

About NetApp
NetApp is the data authority for hybrid cloud. We provide a full range of hybrid cloud data services that simplify management of applications and data across cloud and on-premises environments to accelerate digital transformation. Together with our partners, we empower global organizations to unleash the full potential of their data to expand customer touchpoints, foster greater innovation and optimize their operations. For more information, visit www.netapp.com #DataDriven.

Press Contacts:
NetApp Aanandita Bhatnagar aanandita.bhatnagar@netapp.com +91 9845090606	Text100 Sonali P.S sonalip.s@text100.co.in +91 9844489854