NVIDIA and Microsoft are teaming up to provide innovative young companies with access to their respective accelerator programs for AI startups.

Members of NVIDIA Inception and Microsoft for Startups can now receive all the benefits of both programs — including technology, training, go-to-market support and NVIDIA GPU credits in the Azure cloud — to continue growing and solving complex problems.

The announcement was made at Slush, a startup event taking place this week in Helsinki.

With a variety of tools, technology and resources — including NVIDIA GPU cloud instances on Azure — AI startups can move into production and deployment faster.

NVIDIA and Microsoft will evaluate what startups in the joint program need, and how NVIDIA Inception and Microsoft for Startups can help them achieve their goals.

NVIDIA Inception members are eligible for the following benefits from Microsoft for Startups:

• Free access to specific Microsoft technologies suited to every startup’s needs, including up to $120,000 in free credits in the Azure cloud
• Go-to-market resources to help startups sell alongside Microsoft’s global sales channels

Microsoft for Startups members can access the following benefits from NVIDIA Inception:

• Technology expertise on implementing GPU applications and hardware
• Free access to NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute online courses, such as “Fundamentals of Deep Learning for Computer Vision” and “Accelerating Data Science”
• Unlimited access to DevTalk, a forum for technical inquiries and community engagement
• Go-to-market assistance and hardware discounts across the NVIDIA portfolio, from NVIDIA DGX AI systems to NVIDIA Jetson embedded computing platforms

Microsoft for Startups is a global program designed to support startups as they create and expand their companies. Since its launch in 2018, thousands of startups have applied and are active in the program. Microsoft for Startups members are on course to drive $1 billion in pipeline opportunity by the end of 2020.

NVIDIA Inception is a virtual accelerator program that supports startups harnessing GPUs for AI and data science applications during critical stages of product development, prototyping and deployment. Since its launch in 2016, the program has expanded to over 5,000 companies.