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Cooperation between Katapult and Microsoft Serbia for startup community empowerment
The Innovation Fund has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft, within the Katapult acceleration program. As of today, Katapult community startups have access to Microsoft services to better organize sales and customer relationships globally.
The Memorandum of Understanding defines the directions and scope of future cooperation aimed at strengthening and supporting the startup community in Serbia. Given the same goal, which includes various forms and instruments of support, the plan is to combine their experiences and resources in the coming period with the intention to strengthen the Serbian startup scene.
"We are very pleased to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with one of the largest technology companies in the world. We are glad that Microsoft has recognized the potential of our companies and wants to help build their path to success. Our cooperation will be based on the same goal, which is the accelerated development of the startup digital ecosystem, that is becoming one of the most important factors in the Serbian economy," said Dr. Ivan Rakonjac, director of the Innovation Fund, during the signing of the Memorandum.
During the signing of the cooperation agreement, Milan Gospić, Director of Microsoft in Serbia, said that he was very satisfied with the focus and level of investment in the startup and innovation segment in the past two years, because, as he says, we are closer to having first Serbian Unicorn. (Unicorn - a startup label worth over one billion dollars)
"Microsoft is always there to support the startup community because it is a direct investment in digitalization that has a strong impact on the overall development of a country. Through this cooperation, we want to strategically strengthen innovation, offer full technical and advisory support, networking and connectivity opportunities, and chances to build or improve your business and sell your solution with Microsoft channels and market entry services," pointed out Gospić.
Katapult accelerator relies on the best world practice, offers non-refundable funding and mentoring support to startups. Through this program, the fund wants to provide support to young teams that have their own products in order to raise the level of business, as that is essential for increasing their value to investors.
In addition to the primary support offered by the acceleration program, young teams also have specific services provided by the Microsoft StartUps program, in order to quickly position themselves in the global market and achieve their goals.