AWS and Crayon Software Experts join hands to launch start-up incubator in Bengaluru

Digital transformation company, Crayon Software Experts, has announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), to open a start-up incubation centre in Bengaluru.

CNBC-TV18 learns that the centre will support India-based start-ups to develop cloud-based digital services, and hopes to have at least 50 such companies under its fold exactly a year from now.

In an exclusive chat on the sidelines of AWS Re:Invent in Las Vegas, Crayon's director of product strategy, Abhay Joshi, told CNBC-TV18 that Crayon foresees a 90 to 120-day period for the incubation process to kick in, including milestones like gestation and LIVE incubation. In all, the average incubation period is expected to be between six and nine months.

"We are looking at start-ups across the board and don't have plans to focus only on one sector," said Joshi, "Ours is a five-step strategy that includes identifying and incubating start-ups: we want to identify the problems that these companies are solving, determine their problem-solving strategies and optimize their cloud footprint."

He added: "The partnership between Crayon and AWS will then support incubated start-ups through their cloud migration and GTM phase."

At the incubator, independent software vendors (ISVs) and start-ups are expected to receive support from AWS, Crayon and other partners when it comes to steps like realising business ideas, using the cloud and rapid scaling-up of solutions for customers.

"Many start-ups grapple with what technology to use in the ever-changing IT landscape," Joshi said, "Crayon is in a position to suggest technology for these start-ups and ensure their journey to cloud adoption is smooth."

CNBC-TV18 learns that participating start-ups could stand to gain public-sector networking opportunities through a "speed dating" format, as Joshi puts it, that will see these companies come into contact with potential customers, at executive briefings and pitches. Start-ups will undergo a period of "graduation" from the incubator every year, after completing their respective incubation.

The incubator's training module could see various instructional lessons on building cloud business strategies, infrastructure migration, SAAS solution development and leveraging advanced cloud capabilities like machine learning and artificial intelligence.

"We expect 15 start-ups to be incubated by March, and expect 50 start-ups in all to go to LIVE by the end of 2024," said Joshi.

While incubator has no plans to cherry-pick from start-up sectors, the understanding is that verticals like fin-tech, agri-tech and medical technology hold more potential owing to their public sector relevance. "The incubator can also address start-ups at all stages of their lifecycles, even though Crayon typically works with early-stage companies," Joshi said.

One of the start-ups that is in line for incubation is EaseMyAI, a company that develops innovative AI products to simplify automation for businesses, government organisations and education.

"We look forward to utilizing Crayon's incubation centre to accelerate our software development life cycle," said Gagandeep Randhawa, CEO at EaseMyAI, in a statement. "We also look forward to connecting with Crayon and AWS' wide customer and partner network to strengthen and expand our presence," he added.

While the incubator's soft launch is complete, Crayon is in the process of rolling out applications soon. When fully functional, Crayon's incubator will be the company's first in India. "We are primarily trying to solve the problem of a start-up's understanding of tech," said Joshi.