Cloud major Oracle on Monday announced that it has selected 18 new startups for its “Startup Cloud Accelerator” programme in India. Oracle will mentor the startups working in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), chatbots, big data and predictive analytics and automation. the company said in a statement.

“With Indian startups making global strides, Oracle’s enterprise-grade cloud platform is a natural choice for them to be able to scale rapidly, securely and cost effectively. We’re excited to have these trailblazers part of our start-up programme,” said Harshad Oak, Senior Director, Oracle Global Startup Ecosystem.

The startups are part of the fourth consecutive batch in Bengaluru where Oracle’s global startup programme was piloted successfully and the second consecutive batch in Delhi and Mumbai. “Oracle’s start-up engagement goes well beyond business and technology. We make every effort to understand the startups, partner with them and also learn from them,” added Oak.

The start-ups hail from across the industry like travel, hospitality, micro finance, marketing, employee benefits and rewards services, supply chain management, cyber security and power distribution. Run by the members of Oracle’s research and development team, the startup programme provides mentoring, co-working space, access to Oracle customers, partners and investors and free Oracle Cloud credits.

The Oracle “Startup Cloud Accelerator” has nine locations worldwide — Austin, Bengaluru, Bristol, Mumbai, Delhi, Paris, Sao Paulo, Singapore and Tel Aviv.