Top tech startup news stories you need to know this Friday, January 12

Good morning! Here are some of the top tech startup news stories today Friday, January 12.

Microsoft Accelerator is partnering with Accenture to widen scope for its portfolio startups. Microsoft Accelerator and Accenture Ventures today announced a new ecosystem partnership that aims to strengthen the start-up ecosystem in India.  The two companies will help growth-stage technology and B2B start-ups boost their enterprise readiness and go-to market, and help achieve scale in national and international markets. The announcement was made at Microsoft Accelerator’s flagship event, ThinkNext 2018. Microsoft Ventures is a global program and corporate venture capital subsidiary of Microsoft built to empower startups. Founded in March 2016, its mission is to be an active, strategic partner at key stages of a startup’s growth, typically investing between Series A and D.  and Accenture Ventures which partners with and invests in growth-stage companies that create innovative enterprise technologies.

Government authorities inviting Indian startups solve societal challenges.  Government authorities in southern India are inviting startups to find innovative ways to help those carrying out society’s dirtiest and most dangerous jobs. Others include jobs ranges from manual cleaning of sewers to plucking coconuts from trees.

Israeli startup moguls accuse Amazon of poaching staff. Four Israeli tech leaders spoke out against Amazon’s hiring practices in Israel saying the marketing giant is poaching their best developers.

Fintech startup YieldStreet raises $113 million financing round. Crowdfunding platform YieldStreet has closed a $113 million financing round to accelerate the transformation of wealth creation by investing in further product innovation and growing its loyal community of investors.  The round includes $12.8 million of Series A equity financing co-led by Greycroft and Raine Ventures, as well as a revolving credit facility of $100 million from a New York based family office. Additional equity investors include Saturn Ventures, Expansion Venture Capital, the Family Office and FJ Labs. YieldStreet is an innovative crowdfunding platform that connects investors to asset-based alternative investments.

U.K. Cybersecurity startup Anon AI raises £340,000. U.K.-based Anon AI has raised £340,000 in pre-Seed funding from the UCL Technology Fund alongside the London Co-Invested Fund, AI Seed and Ascension Ventures. The company will use the funding to enhance its prototype model and build a developer tool with the UCL community. Anon AI is working to develop software to automate data anonymisation and enable developers and data scientists to share it securely. The company was named winner of ‘Best in Cybersecurity’ award.