Graduates of the Microsoft Ventures Israel Accelerator, which operates as part of Microsoft’s R&D center, raised nearly $9 million in funds or investment offers during the mentoring program. The startups are in fields as varied as e-commerce, tourism, advertising, medicine, and agricultural technology.

The Accelerator program is designed to take startups to the next stage in their development and prepare them for the global market. For example, OwnBackup, a cloud backup and recovery vendor, announced the close of a $3.5 million Series A financing round led by Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors on February 4. “We were excited to work with the OwnBackup team over the past four months to help them achieve their vision and connect them with enterprises around the globe,” said Navot Volk, managing director, Microsoft Ventures Israel.

The ratios of capital raised by Microsoft Ventures Israel Accelerator are among the highest in the world, according to a press statement. 58 companies that previously participated in the accelerator raised a total of $136 million—an average of $2.1 million per company. More than 350 companies from Israel and 27 other countries applied for the latest round of the Microsoft Ventures Israel Accelerator, including companies from the U.S., the UK, Singapore, Spain, India, Pakistan, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Mexico, France, Turkey and China.

Three companies that graduated from the program have already been bought out: Kitlocate, which was sold to Yandex; Appixia, which was sold to Wix; and Conferplace, which was sold to Meda Group.

Among the accelerator’s latest graduates are DiACardio, a software company revolutionizing heart evaluations; FarmDog, which offers technological solutions for small- and medium-sized farms; Missbeez, an on-demand platform and marketplace for beauty services; and Precepto, which uses computer vision technology to provide autonomous flight solutions for drones.

(via Israel21c)

[Photo: Microsoft Israel R & D Center / YouTube ]