M12, Microsoft’s freshly renamed corporate venture arm has announced today the winners of its global startup competition, Innovate.AI. After studying hundreds of candidates from startups across North America, Europe and Israel, M12 along with Madrona Venture Group, Notion and Vertex Ventures awarded the four winners a combined $3.5M in equity investment up to $500K in Azure credits:
- The winner for the North America region is Envisagencis, an NYC-based startup using AI to unlock cures for hundreds of diseases caused by RNA splicing.
- In Europe, London-based Hazy won thanks to its Ethical, GDPR-compliant data sharing solution for businesses.
- The Isreali winner is ZenCity, a Tel-Aviv based startup that leverages AI to understand citizen’s as shared on social media, city hotlines and other communication channels
- The AI for Good prize was awarded to Tel Aviv-based Voiceitt, which is developing the world’s first speech recognition technology designed to understand non-standard speech
“From revolutionizing health practices to matching job seekers with skill-based careers, entrepreneurs across the globe captivated us with technologies that bring to life AI’s transformative potential,” said Nagraj Kashyap, corporate vice president, global head of M12. “The number of impressive applicants we received painted a clear picture of how AI can be used to change the way we work, play and live, signaling a bright future for continued AI innovation.”
