Qualcomm Incorporated and Microsoft announced Microsoft’s association with QPrize, Qualcomm’s second annual international venture investment competition, to identify the most promising early-stage wireless technology companies in India. 

This year, QPrize finalists from India will be considered for incubation at Microsoft as part of the Company’s BizSpark program.  Microsoft’s BizSpark is a global program that helps software startups succeed by giving them access to Microsoft software development tools, connecting them with key industry players, including investors, and providing marketing visibility to help entrepreneurs starting a business.

“Through QPrize, we aim to accelerate the development of India’s mobile ecosystem, by enabling startups to create solutions that address the unique needs of the Indian marketplace,” said Karthee Madasamy, director of India Investments for Qualcomm Ventures, the venture capital investment arm within Qualcomm Incorporated.  “By working together with Microsoft, we hope to provide promising startups with greater exposure to the venture community.”

QPrize spotlights up-and-coming industry leaders that have the potential to shape the future of wireless communications and significantly impact their regional markets, eventually growing into profitable companies.  QPrize finalists in India will present their business plans to a panel of judges that will consist of Qualcomm employees, a Microsoft representative, venture capitalists, event sponsors and industry VIPs.

“We’re working jointly to carve out a category for interesting apps specific to the India market, which will be screened during this contest,” said Moorthy Uppaluri, general manager of Developer and Platform Evangelism at Microsoft.  “Companies that exhibit promising ideas will then be incorporated in Microsoft’s BizSpark program.”

The Qualcomm Ventures QPrize competition is open to entrepreneurs in North America, Europe, China, South Korea, Israel and India.  The deadline for business plan submissions for QPrize has now been extended to December 24, 2010 from its original deadline of December 14, 2010. From the pool of competing entries, Qualcomm Ventures will select up to six finalists from the six contest markets.  The finalists will each receive US$100,000 (€100,000 in Europe) of convertible note funding from Qualcomm. The grand prize winner will receive an additional US$150,000 of convertible note funding, for a total prize of US$250,000 in venture financing.