Why Every Developer Testing Telegram Bots Needs a Separate Phone Number

If you have ever tried to test a Telegram bot with your personal account, you already know how quickly things get messy. Your main account starts receiving test messages, notifications pile up, and at some point you are not sure whether a message came from a real contact or from your own bot running in a loop. Dropping https://hottelecom.biz/virtual-number-for-telegram.html into your testing workflow solves this before it becomes a problem, because a virtual number gives you a completely separate Telegram account that exists purely for development purposes and has zero connection to your personal identity or your production setup.

This is not an advanced DevOps concept. It is the same logic that applies to using a separate email address for test accounts, or a sandbox environment instead of a live database. You keep things separate so that testing activity does not bleed into real activity. With Telegram, that separation starts at the phone number level, because the phone number is how Telegram identifies every account.

The good news is that you do not need to be a senior engineer to set this up. If you know what a Telegram bot is, you can manage this. And if you are building anything that involves Telegram, whether that is a bot, an automation script, or a tool that interacts with channels, having a dedicated development account is one of those decisions you will thank yourself for later.

Think of it the same way youthink about having a dedicated test environment for anything elseyou build. You would not run test queries against a production database. You would not send test emails from a real customer-facing address. The same logic applies to Telegram accounts, and the barrier to setting it up is genuinely low.

The virtual number itself is nottechnically complex. It is just a phone number that exists insoftware rather than on a SIM card. It receives SMS messages, whichyou read through a web dashboard or API instead of on a physical device. For Telegram's purposes, it behaves identically to anyother phone number. The whole point is that it is separate from anything you care about personally or professionally outside ofthis specific development context.

What Actually Happens WhenYou Test Without a Separate Account

The most common starting point for someone building their first Telegram bot is using theirpersonal account as the test user. It feels like the easiest option because the account already exists and you are already logged in.What follows is a predictable series of small annoyances that addup over time.

This pattern is so common thatmost people who have been building with Telegram for a while can describe it from memory. You start testing, things get noisy, youtry to work around the noise, the work arounds add complexity, andeventually you set up a separate account and wonder why you did notdo it from the start. Skipping to the end of that sequence is straight forward once you know the setup takes less time than the first round of annoyances it prevents.

First, your notification feed becomes noise. Every test message your bot sends to you appears alongside real messages from real people. After a while, you startmissing things because you have trained yourself to ignore the flood of test notifications. Second, if your bot has a bug that causes it to loop or spam, your personal account is on the receiving end of that. Third, if you ever need to test how your bothandles a fresh user who has never interacted with it before, you cannot do that with your personal account because you have already interacted with it.

The deeper issue is that Telegram accounts carry state. Your personal account has a history,settings, and a relationship with every bot you have ever messaged. A test account starts clean every time, which is exactly what youneed when you are trying to reproduce a specific scenario or verify that a new user flow works correctly.

A separate Telegram account for development also protects your personal account from accidental mistakes during testing. If you are building something thatmodifies account settings, sends messages on behalf of a user, ormanages group memberships, running that against your personalaccount is a risk that a separate test account eliminates entirely.

There is also the question ofwhat happens when your bot or script triggers Telegram's ratelimiting or anti-spam mechanisms. Telegram monitors accounts forbehaviour that looks automated or abusive, and accounts thattrigger these systems can face temporary or permanent restrictions.If that happens to your personal account because you were testingsomething aggressive, the consequences go beyond your developmentwork. A dedicated test account absorbs that risk and leaves your personal account untouched.

The Three Scenarios Where aVirtual Number Actually Saves You Time

Understanding when a virtual number 
genuinely helps versus when it is optional makes it easierto decide when to invest the small effort of setting one up. Thereare three scenarios where it consistently makes a meaningful difference.

The first is bot development and testing. If you are building a Telegram bot, you need at least twoaccounts: one to be the bot's owner and one to be a test userinteracting with the bot. Your personal account can cover one of these roles, but having a dedicated test account means you can run through user flows exactly as a new user would experience them,without any of the history or context that your personal account carries.

The second scenario is automation scripts. Tools that automate Telegram actions, whether for monitoring channels, forwarding messages, or aggregating content, typically need a user account rather than a bot account because they interact with Telegram in ways that the Bot API does notsupport. Running automation from your personal account means thatif the script triggers Telegram's rate limiting or spam detection, your personal account takes the hit. A dedicated account for automation keeps that risk contained.

The third scenario is multi-account testing. If you are building something that involves interactions between multiple Telegram users, such as a group management tool or a feature that behaves differently based on user roles, you need multiple accounts to test those interactions properly. Virtual numbers make it practical to spin up as many test accounts as your scenario requires without needing multiple physical SIM cards.

Here is a quick breakdown of which scenario applies to most common Telegram projects:

• Building a bot that responds touser messages: you need at least one test user account separatefrom your personal account
• Running a script that reads fromTelegram channels: you need a dedicated account so your personalaccount is not at risk
• Testing admin versus regular userbehaviour in a group: you need at least two accounts with differentroles
• Building a multi-step onboardingflow for a new bot: you need a fresh account that has neverinteracted with the bot before
• Testing notification deliverytiming: you need an account where you can actually observe thenotifications without them getting lost in your personalfeed

These scenarios cover most of what developers building Telegram projects actually need. The common thread is that you want test activity isolated from realactivity, and you want to be able to reproduce specific conditions reliably without your personal account's history getting in theway.

Getting a Virtual Numberand Setting Up Your Test Account

The process of getting a virtual number for a Telegram test account is genuinely simple. It does not require any technical knowledge beyond what you already have if youare building Telegram bots.

You choose a provider, pick acountry and number, complete the payment, and the number appears in your provider dashboard. You open Telegram, enter the number whereit asks for a phone number during registration, and then retrieve the verification code from the dashboard. The whole process takes afew minutes the first time and less than that once you know what you are doing.

A few things are worth knowing before you start. Telegram rate-limits verification attempts, so ifyou request a code and it expires before you enter it, you willneed to wait before requesting another one. This means having your provider dashboard open and ready before you trigger the code request is a good habit. Some virtual number providers have slow SMS delivery, which turns this into a frustrating race against the expiry timer. Choosing a provider with fast delivery is less aboutpremium features and more about avoiding a basic operational annoyance.

Once the account is registered,treat it like any other development resource. Give it are cognizable name so you know immediately that it is a test accountwhen you see it in your Telegram client. Keep a note of whichvirtual number is associated with it, because if you ever need toverify the account again from a new device or after a sessionexpires, you will need access to that number.

One thing that catches people offguard the first time: Telegram sessions can expire or be terminated if you log in from a new location or device without completing theverification step. When that happens, Telegram sends a code to theregistered number. If you are using a virtual number and theprovider account is accessible, retrieving that code is straight forward. If the number has expired or you cannot access theprovider account, you are stuck. This is why keeping the number active for the duration of a project, not just for the initial registration, matters more than it might seem upfront.

For short-lived test scenarios, a temporary number that expires after the test is fine. For adevelopment account you will use throughout a project that runs forweeks or months, maintaining ongoing access to the number is partof maintaining access to the account.

1. Open your virtual number providerdashboard and select a number
2. Start Telegram registration onthe device or client you want to use for testing
3. Enter the virtual number whenprompted for your phone number
4. Trigger the verification coderequest in Telegram
5. Retrieve the code from yourprovider dashboard before it expires
6. Complete the registration andgive the account a name that identifies it as a testaccount
7. Note which virtual number islinked to this account for future reference

Managing Multiple TestAccounts and Choosing a Provider

One test account covers mostbasic development scenarios. But as your Telegram project grows incomplexity, you will likely find yourself needing more than one. Abot with admin functionality needs to be tested from both an adminaccount and a regular user account. A group feature needs multiplemembers. A forwarding or aggregation tool needs source accounts topull from.

The online Telegram number markethas matured enough that there are clear differences betweenproviders in terms of inventory quality and delivery reliability.Numbers from pools that have been heavily cycled through Telegramregistrations are more likely to fail at the verification step.This is not about the number being blocked in the traditionalsense. It is about Telegram recognising number ranges that havebeen used for mass registrations and applying additional scrutiny.Choosing a provider that actively manages their inventory reducesthe chance of hitting this.

What trips people up most oftenwhen managing multiple test accounts is losing access to thenumbers. Telegram uses the registered number as the recovery methodfor account access. If a session expires or you need to log in froma new device, Telegram will send a verification code to the number.If that number has expired or you have lost access to the provideraccount where it lives, you are locked out. Keeping the numbersactive for the duration of a project and maintaining access to theprovider account where they are managed prevents this from becominga problem.

HotBiz provides the kind of account management that makes this practical: multiple numbersvisible in one dashboard, with renewal management and clear expiryinformation so you are not caught off guard by a number lapsing at the wrongmoment.

Managing multiple test accounts efficiently comes down to keeping clear records. A simple notethat maps each virtual number to its corresponding Telegram account, along with what that account is used for, isenough to stay organised. Something like: number ending in 4821, test account for admin role testing, registered on a specific date. Simple, but it saves time when you need toretrieve a verification code six weeks later and cannot remember which Number goes with which account.

The cheap Telegram number options available from virtual number providers make maintaining multiple test accounts practical.You are not paying for carrier plans or monthly SIM fees. You pay for the number and keep it active for as long as theproject needs it.

Using a virtual number for Telegram development is one specific application of a broader principle: keep your development environment separate from your personal accounts and your production environment. For Telegram specifically, the separation matters because Telegram accounts accumulate state in waysthat are not always visible. A personal account used fortesting a bot that accidentally triggers. Telegram's spam detectioncarries that history. A dedicated testaccount absorbs the experimentand canbe replaced ifneeded without any consequence to accounts thatmatter.

The buy virtual number for Telegram decision is a small one in the context of any development project, but it setsup acleaner workflow from the start. It costs less than most developertools, takes minutes to set up, and removes a category offriction that would otherwise accumulate quietly overthe lifetime of the project.

The numbers for Telegram you use in development do not need to befrom anyspecific country. Unlike production numberswhere geographic context mightmatter for your users, test account numbers just need to work. This means you can often choose cheaper options from countries with lower demand and still get reliable verification.

DIDVN provides virtual numbers across a widerange of countries with fast SMSdelivery, which matters specifically inthe Telegram context where OTP codeshave short expiry windows.Fordevelopers who needmultiple numbers for different test scenarios, theability to manage them all from oneaccount dashboard rather than juggling multiple providers keeps the overhead low.

The Telegram virtual number buy decision is also one that compounds over time if you are working onmultiple projects. Once you have areliable provider and a workflow for setting up test accounts, spinning up anew one for a new project takes minutes. Fresh project, fresh test account, fresh number. For teams working on Telegram projects collaboratively, virtual numbers also solve a coordination problem: the number lives in a shared provider account that anyone with access can use to retrieve verification codes, rather than depending on one team member's personal phone.

The temp number Telegram use case and the long-term development number use case both startwith thesame step:picking a number and registering an account. The difference is what you do with theaccount afterward and how longyoukeep the numberactive. For a quickone-off test, let the numberexpire when you are done. Foranongoing project withadevelopment account youwill return torepeatedly,keeping thenumber activefor the project'slifetimeis the cleanerapproach.This is fundamentally about treating Telegram accounts as proper development infrastructure rather than something youset up informallyandmanage by memory.

Emergent Brings VibeCon Hackathon to India, Offering Y Combinator Interview Opportunity

Emergent, the fast-growing AI software creation platform will host VibeCon India on April 16–17 in Bengaluru, bringing its flagship selection-led hackathon from San Francisco to India for the first time. The event presents a major opportunity for Indian builders: the winning team will receive a direct interview with a Y Combinator partner for an upcoming batch.

The Bengaluru edition arrives at a pivotal moment for India’s startup ecosystem. It takes place just ahead of Y Combinator’s first in-person Startup School India, scheduled for April 18, creating a concentrated week that will bring together founders, engineers, and operators from across the country to build, launch, and test new ideas. VibeCon India will be hosted at Polaris School of Technology, Bengaluru, bringing this high-intensity builder experience to one of the city’s emerging hubs for tech talent.

Originally launched in San Francisco, VibeCon was designed as a high-signal hackathon that prioritises exceptional builders and tangible outcomes over open participation. The India edition continues that approach through a rigorous application and selection process intended to identify founders, engineers, operators, and non-technical builders capable of rapidly transforming ideas into working products.

Interest in the inaugural India edition has been significant. More than 20,000 applicants from India and abroad applied to participate, from which a smaller cohort of high-potential builders has been selected to compete in Bengaluru.

VibeCon India is supported by a broad network of ecosystem partners spanning venture capital, AI research, and developer infrastructure. Partners include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Together Fund, OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon Web Services, Stripe, Razorpay, MongoDB, Starknet, Eigencloud and Temporal Technologies, among others. These organisations will provide mentorship, tools, infrastructure, and technical resources to help teams build during the hackathon.

“India is producing an extraordinary number of ambitious builders, many of whom are ready to move faster than traditional pathways allow,” said Mukund Jha, Co-founder and CEO of Emergent. “With VibeCon India, we want to create a focused environment where high-potential teams can test ideas, ship real products, and engage directly with the global startup ecosystem. The opportunity for the winning team to interview directly with Y Combinator reflects our focus on outcomes that can meaningfully accelerate a founder’s journey.”

The two-day hackathon will culminate in a final judging round where participating teams present the products they developed during the event. In addition to the direct interview opportunity with Y Combinator, winning teams will receive cash prizes and access to a partner-backed pool of credits and resources designed to support continued product development beyond the hackathon.

With the launch of VibeCon India, Emergent aims to strengthen connections between India’s fast-growing builder community and the global startup ecosystem, while creating a platform that enables promising ideas to move quickly from concept to company.

About Emergent:

Emergent is the fast-growing platform that lets anyone create full-stack, production-ready applications using autonomous AI agents. Its latest product, Wingman, brings that same vision to personal autonomous agents, giving anyone access to an always-on team that works in the background. Emergent enables ambitious people to move at the speed of their thought — to build faster, go bigger, and be unblocked from technical limitations. Launched in 2025, Emergent is backed by Khosla Ventures, SoftBank, Lightspeed, YC, Prosus, Together, and Google’s AI Futures Fund. Its mission is to democratize who gets to build software and bring new ideas to life.

Future of Mobility: MGDP 6.0 Opens Applications for Start-ups in AI, EV, and Sustainability

• Innovation in Automobile’ is the central theme of Season 6.0 of MG Developers Program & Grant
• Applications open today; Entries close April 30, 2026
• Demo Day is scheduled for June 1, 2026
• MGDP has received over 1550 entries across its first five seasons

JSW MG Motor India today announced the launch of Season 6.0 of the MG Developer Program & Grant (MGDP) in collaboration with DPIIT, reaffirming its commitment to accelerating innovation and strengthening India’s start-up ecosystem. Building on the successes of the previous seasons, the sixth edition of MGDP is themed on ‘Innovation in Automotive’ and will focus on future-ready innovations.

Season 6.0 encourages start-ups to showcase their innovations under various categories, such as Innovation in Logistics and Supply Chain, AI in Automotive, V2X Intelligence, Sustainability & Circular Economy, Innovation in Vehicle Technology, Connected Services, Innovation in EV Charging Infrastructure, and Innovation in Manufacturing. An esteemed jury panel comprising senior leaders and distinguished experts from leading corporates, academic institutions and industry bodies will evaluate the entries based on their uniqueness and real-world applicability.

Speaking on the occasion, Anurag Mehrotra, Managing Director, JSW MG Motor India said, “Innovation remains the cornerstone of JSW MG Motor India’s vision for India, and we remain committed to nurturing this value through multiple initiatives. This new edition of MGDP aims to empower ambitious start-ups working across new energy, autonomous, and connected mobility technologies. Together, we hope to shape a future where technology meaningfully enhances every customer’s experience.”

Sanjiv Singh, Joint Secretary, DPIIT, said, “Startup India, DPIIT is committed to supporting initiatives that foster collaboration, create opportunities for young talent and encourage India-specific innovation. We are delighted to partner with JSW MG Motor India for the new season of MGDP. This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to nurturing India’s future workforce and fostering a culture of practical problem-solving.”

Selected participants will receive mentoring from JSW MG Motor India and its ecosystem partners, along with access to development support, opportunities for testing, and consideration for grant assistance at the jury’s discretion. Applications for the sixth season are live from today, with the final date for submission being April 30, 2026. Shortlisted teams will be mentored ahead of Demo Day on June 1, 2026.

Launched in 2019 in partnership with MG partner companies and tech giants, the MG Developer Program & Grant aims to nurture ground-breaking solutions within the Indian urban mobility space.

The program received over 1550 entries and saw 290+ teams being shortlisted in the first round across seasons 1 to 5. The teams were provided mentorship by 100+ experts, including JSW MG Motor India’s leadership and its technology ecosystem partners, making it the largest mentoring program in the automotive segment. A total of 51 start-ups have already been shortlisted by MG to date as part of MGDP and Grant, and they are working on various pilot projects.

MGDP 6.0 website is live! https://www.mgmotor.co.in/world-of-mg/events/mg-developer-program-grant-6

Startup India Application Link: https://www.startupindia.gov.in/content/sih/en/ams-application/accelerator-program.html?applicationId=69ae994fe4b0b7e5b72b9dd4

About JSW MG Motor India

SAIC Motor, a global Fortune 500 company with a presence in over 100 countries and JSW Group (India's leading conglomerate with interests across B2B and B2C sectors) formed a joint venture - JSW MG Motor India Pvt. Ltd. in 2023. The joint venture aims to build a smart and sustainable automotive ecosystem while staying focused on developing a diverse portfolio of vehicles to give car buyers better access to advanced technologies and futuristic products with attractive value propositions. JSW MG Motor India Pvt. Ltd. is committed to introducing world-class technology, strengthening the manufacturing landscape, bringing the best of innovation across its business operations, and generating significant employment opportunities through extensive localisation.

About Morris Garages

Founded in the UK in 1924, Morris Garages vehicles were world-famous for their sports cars, roadsters, and cabriolet series. MG vehicles were much sought after by celebrities, including British Prime Ministers and even the British Royal Family, for their styling, elegance, and spirited performance. The MG Car Club, set up in 1930 at Abingdon in the UK, has thousands of loyal fans, making it one of the world’s largest clubs for a car brand. MG has evolved into a modern, futuristic, and innovative brand over the last 100 years. Its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Halol, Gujarat, has an annual production capacity of 1,00,000 plus vehicles and 6,000 direct and indirect employees. Driven by its vision of CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, and Electric) mobility, the innovative automaker has augmented across-the-board ‘experiences’ within the automobile segment today. It has introduced several ‘firsts’ in India, including India’s first Internet SUV – MG Hector, India’s first Pure Electric Internet SUV – MG ZS EV, India’s first Autonomous (Level 1) Premium SUV – MG Gloster, the Astor- India’s first SUV with personal AI assistant and Autonomous (Level 2) technology, MG Comet – The Street-Smart Car, India’s first Intelligent CUV, MG Windsor, World’s Fastest MG – MG Cyberster and The Presidential Limousine – MG M9.

Avalanche and Team1 Launch $100K India Grant to Fuel Web3 Innovation Among Young Developers

Avalanche, a high performance blockchain platform announced today that it has collaborated with Team1, a global network of builders, developers, creatives, and community members to launch a pilot $100,000 Team1 India Mini Grant fund, aimed at empowering and accelerating the Web3 ecosystem in India. This initiative represents a significant commitment to fostering innovation and driving the next wave of digital advancements in the region.

Most of the developers entering the Web3 space are newcomers and under the age of 27. Young developers lose passion due to insufficient funding opportunities and lack of quality mentorship. Avalanche and Team1 have created a dedicated team to explore potential Web3 projects and startups to disburse the grants promptly and work closely with the project team to help them scale their operations. The Avalanche team will monitor the team’s progress and provide access to Avalanche tools, community network, collaboration opportunities, and hackathons. The potential projects and startups will be selected through an In-person demo that will take place in multiple cities across the country.

Commenting on the development Devika Mittal, Regional Head at Ava Labs, said “India is rapidly gaining reputation as a major hub for Web3 developers globally and is projected to be the largest by 2028. Currently, there are 1200 Web3 startups in India and we aim to significantly increase this number by 2026 through our #Team1MiniGrants fund. Our initiative will fill the funding gap for web3 projects and create a level playing field for talented developers. In particular, we hope to see young developers, both men and women, applying to the fund.”

Commenting on the development, Eamonn Deane, Head of Ambassador Program at Ava Labs and Team1, said “India, being one of the tech superpowers of the world with strong digital infrastructure, provides a strong foundation for the growth and adoption of blockchain technology. With active participation from the government and big private enterprises, we see a huge growth potential for Web3-related products and services. Apart from metros, we aim to include projects from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities due to the fast-paced innovation in smaller Indian towns and cities”.

Avalanche is aggressively betting on India to create one of the world’s largest Web3 ecosystems. The large talent pool, business-friendly policies from the government, and robust digital infrastructure make India a highly lucrative Web3 destination. Avalanche recently collaborated with Indian state governments to execute the tokenization of land assets in India and unlock the economic potential of idle land parcels across the country. The recent collaboration between Avalanche and global digital exchange, Bitget is also aimed at boosting the Web3 ecosystem in India.

This strategic initiative underscores Avalanche’s commitment to driving innovation and growth within the region, empowering developers and entrepreneurs to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the blockchain space.

To apply for the grants, visit https://grants.team1.network/


About Avalanche Blockchain Network

Avalanche is a high-performance blockchain platform designed for builders who need to scale. Engineered with a revolutionary three-part Layer 1 (L1) architecture, Avalanche is anchored by its Avalanche Consensus Mechanism, ensuring near-instant finality for transactions. The platform also features an open-source Layer 0 (L0) framework, enabling the seamless creation of interoperable Layer 1 blockchains with high throughput on both public and private networks. Supported by a global community of developers and validators, Avalanche offers a fast, low-cost environment for building the next generation of decentralized applications (dApps). With its unique blend of speed, flexibility, and scalability, Avalanche is the preferred choice for innovators pushing the boundaries of blockchain technology.

For more information, visit avax.network.

About Team1:

Team1 is a global network of builders, developers, creatives, gamers & community members who grow Avalanche. After starting just one year ago with the first cohort, Team1 has since organized over 600 community events, collaborated with 80+ universities and has members in 51 countries. For more info and to join Team1, visit https://www.team1.network/

Apple Explored Developer-Focused Cloud Platform

For years, Apple quietly watched as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google carved up the cloud computing market. While its own strength lay in tightly integrated consumer devices, something began brewing behind the scenes in Cupertino—an idea that Apple, too, could build a developer-focused cloud platform, one built not on commodity hardware, but on the very silicon that powered iPhones and Macs.

At the heart of this vision was Apple Silicon. The M-series chips had already redefined what portable computing could be. But Apple wondered: what if these same chips fueled the backend of app development? Imagine developers renting servers built around the M1 or M2 to run simulations, train machine learning models, or handle compute-heavy tasks far beyond the capabilities of their personal machines. It wouldn’t just be efficient—it would be uniquely Apple.

The concept didn’t stop there. Apple’s cloud wouldn’t be a fragmented ecosystem of services; it would be a seamless extension of the developer experience. From coding in Xcode to deploying via iCloud integrations, the dream was to create a vertical pipeline where everything—from code to performance metrics—felt native. Even AI processing, which Apple traditionally kept on-device for privacy reasons, could shift to this developer cloud under Apple’s strict security ethos.

Michael Abbott, a seasoned cloud executive, was reportedly steering this ambition until his departure in 2023. Even after he left, whispers continued into 2024, hinting that the project hadn't been entirely shelved—just waiting, perhaps, for the right moment to resurface.

For developers loyal to the Apple ecosystem, the idea was tantalizing. It could have reshaped workflows, lowered barriers to entry, and made building powerful apps more accessible. But like many Apple innovations, it remains under wraps—half-realized, unannounced, and still cloaked in the mystery that defines so much of the company’s most daring ideas.

Nokia and Google Cloud Collaborate to Help Developers Worldwide Create 5G Applications Faster with Telco APIs

Nokia has expanded its collaboration with Google Cloud to empower developers worldwide in creating innovative 5G enterprise and consumer applications more efficiently.

This move enhances the developer experience by leveraging Google Cloud data and generative AI solutions, including Vertex AI and Gemini 1.5 Pro.

Nokia's "Network as Code" platform, which brings together telco networks, systems integrators, and software developers, will now run on Google Cloud. This platform accelerates the development of software applications that can utilize 5G and 4G network capabilities.

By leveraging Google Cloud's Vertex AI and Gemini 1.5 Pro, developers can easily consume AI in their applications and improve productivity with coding assistance agents.

The collaboration aims to target industry-specific use cases, starting with healthcare. This will help telehealth companies provide better and safer customer experiences.

Google Cloud's expansive developer community will benefit from standardized 5G network capabilities worldwide, exposed through Nokia's Network as Code platform. This provides technical tools for creating new applications.

Overall, this collaboration enhances the developer experience and promotes faster 5G application development across various sectors.

Nokia’s Network as Code platform with developer portal provides developers with software development kits (SDKs); network API documentation, a “sandbox” to create software code for use case simulation and testing; and code “snippets” that can be included in building new applications. The platform is based on a revenue share model between developers, operators, and Nokia.

Since its launch in September 2023, Nokia has signed collaboration agreements with 13 network operators and ecosystem partners in Europe, North America, and South America.

Satya Nadella Highlights Key Role of India’s Developer Community in Global AI Innovation

Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella, on Thursday, highlighted the pivotal role of India’s developer community in building cutting-edge products and solutions that solve challenges for the nation and can be deployed around the world.

During his address to 1,100 developers and technology leaders at the Microsoft AI Tour in Bengaluru today, Nadella spoke about the impact Indian developers are making in accelerating AI innovation globally.

India is the fastest-growing market on GitHub, a Microsoft-owned software collaboration and innovation platform, with 13.2 million developers using the platform. It is expected to overtake the US as the largest developer community on GitHub by 2027. India also has the second-highest number of generative AI projects on GitHub after the United States.

“This next generation of AI is changing how and what developers build everywhere, including in India,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “It’s fantastic to see how India’s developer community is applying our technology and tools to build the future for India and the world.”

Nadella also said that Microsoft will expand its Code; Without Barriers program to India this month, as the company aims to democratize access to tech skills nationwide. The program was launched in 2021 across nine Asia Pacific (APAC) countries to help close the gender gap in the region’s fast-growing cloud, AI, and digital technology sectors. The program provides support, training, and networking opportunities for female developers and coders, and those in other technical roles to contribute to inclusive economic growth, encourage innovation, and reflect the region’s social makeup. Through Code; Without Barriers, Microsoft will provide skilling and certification to 75,000 women developers in India in 2024.

The Code; Without Barriers expansion builds on other recent developer and skilling initiatives by Microsoft in India.

On Wednesday, Nadella announced Microsoft’s new skilling investment in India to empower people and organizations to thrive in the AI era. The investment will see Microsoft provide 2 million people in India with AI skilling opportunities by 2025 through its ADVANTA(I)GE INDIA initiative.

In early last month, Microsoft enabled 100,000 developers to advance their careers in AI through its AI Odyssey initiative. The initiative allowed participants to take the first step towards becoming a subject matter expert in AI by learning new skills and earning Microsoft credentials. Microsoft is expanding the AI Odyssey program to other Asian countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, China, Vietnam, and Thailand, after receiving an overwhelming response from India. The program will also welcome Indian developers who could not participate in the AI Odyssey challenge in January 2024. Phase 2 of the AI Odyssey will run from February 8th, 2024, to June 25th, 2024, aiming to reach another 150,000 developers across Asia.

In November 2022, Microsoft India launched the Azure Society of Excellence (ASE) in collaboration with premier technology institutes like IITs, IIMs and BITS Pilani to work with startups and their incubation cells. The exclusive program provides technological support and mentorship to startups, helping them to become future-ready. Microsoft has successfully onboarded over 1700 Indian startups to the Microsoft Founders Hub through the ASE. It has also signed memorandums of understanding with 10 leading incubators across Indian technology and management institutes.

Microsoft India engages with a community of 2 million professional and student developers across 100 cities in India to help them acquire skills and prepare for jobs. This is done with the help of community leaders, Microsoft Valuable professionals (MVP’s) and Azure industry experts along with partnerships with over 100 academic institutions across the country.

At the Microsoft AI Tour, Bengaluru, developers from nonprofit organizations, student developers, and large enterprises showcased how Microsoft technologies have accelerated their AI adoption and empowered them to innovate. These included the following:

• Sarvam AI provides large language models (LLMs) that offer Indic language support. The generative AI startup aims to make the development, deployment, and distribution of generative AI apps in India more robust, better performing, and cheaper.
• Shiksha copilot, developed by the Sikshana Foundation and Microsoft Research India, aims to improve learning outcomes and empower teachers to create comprehensive, age-appropriate lesson plans with personalized learning experiences. Powered by Azure OpenAI models, it helps teachers develop a complete lesson plan with engaging content in 60 to 90 seconds instead of 60 to 90 minutes. It is currently deployed in about 30 rural and urban schools in Bengaluru, India, and the Sikshana Foundation is working with Microsoft to deploy it at scale.
• The Open Healthcare Network has helped manage 581 hospitals, oversee 20,712 hospital beds, attend to 362,349 patients, and facilitate over 500 million consultations in India with the support of 1,884 health workers. GitHub Copilot is helping the project grow rapidly and address the needs of the country’s healthcare system.
• Persistent Systems’ Intelligent Digital Engineering Platform, powered by Azure AI, enables large enterprises across various sectors in India to adopt and integrate LLM technology. By leveraging established Azure patterns for observability, data governance, and model registry, the platform provides a comprehensive environment for developing LLM applications.

Click here to learn more about Satya Nadella’s visit and how Microsoft is empowering organizations in India with AI.

SAP Launches Generative AI-based Code Development with Joule

SAP Unveils Innovations in Generative AI Application Development and Vector Database Capabilities as Well as New Learning Opportunities for Developers in the Era of AI

At the SAP TechEd event 2023, which is happening from 2nd to 3rd November in Bengaluru, SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced a comprehensive series of generative AI capabilities and advancements aimed at empowering developers of all skill levels to supercharge their businesses in the age of AI.

“Today’s dynamic technology and business landscape means every developer needs to be an AI developer,” said Juergen Mueller, Chief Technology Officer and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE. “The innovations we’re launching at SAP TechEd, from AI-infused pro-code tools to a one-stop shop to create generative AI extensions and applications on SAP Business Technology Platform, support the developers at the heart of the AI revolution and provide them with resources they need to transform the way businesses run.”

SAP is launching the SAP Build Code solutions, which streamline cooperation with business experts who use the low-code SAP Build solutions launched at SAP TechEd in 2022. Uniquely built for SAP applications and the SAP ecosystem, SAP Build Code solutions offer AI-powered productivity tools for developers and are optimized for Java and JavaScript development. SAP Build Code also draws on the power of SAP’s new generative AI copilot Joule – the copilot that truly understands business – to further boost productivity, embedding code generation capabilities for data model, application logic and test script creation.

SAP Build Code includes pre-built integrations, APIs, and connectors to SAP and non-SAP systems, guided templates, and built-in SAP developer best practices to accelerate development.

 

Good data is the foundation of good AI, and SAP HANA Cloud continues to pioneer innovation in the data space by adding new vector database features to its multimodel offerings at no additional cost. Vector data stores manage unstructured data – such as text, images or audio – to provide long-term memory and better context to AI models. This makes it easy to find and retrieve similar objects quickly.

For example, users can search for suppliers based on the language in their contracts to examine payment history and trace individual orders. These powerful new vector database features enhance interactions between large language models and an organization’s mission-critical data. The innovation helps put SAP developers at the forefront of delivering radically new levels of data insight within a secure, private framework that uses industry-specific customer data to reduce hallucinations.

AI Foundation on SAP BTP, a new one-stop shop for developers to create AI- and generative AI-powered extensions and applications on SAP BTP, will further help increase developers’ impact and efficiency. AI Foundation includes everything developers need to start creating business-ready AI tools on SAP BTP – from ready-to-use AI services and access to the top large language models to vector database capabilities and AI runtime and lifecycle management.

AI Learning Opportunities with SAP

The rapid pace of technological innovation has driven up global demand for skilled developers – and SAP is increasing its learning opportunities in tandem. As part of a commitment to upskill two million professionals by 2025 and complement free AI learning content already available, SAP today launched new role-based certification and free learning resources for back-end developers using the ABAP Cloud development model. The two new learning resources covering ABAP development tools on SAP BTP and SAP S/4HANA are available on the SAP Learning site. They are designed for agile and cloud-compliant business transformation, providing developers with skills to build cloud-ready extensions that are aligned with SAP’s clean core strategy. SAP has also joined the Stanford HAI (Institute for Human-Centered AI) Corporate Affiliate Program. Researchers and engineers at SAP will work with the Stanford academic community, including research faculty and students, on the intersection of generative AI and business.

Stack Overflow Enters Generative-AI Universe, Launches OverflowAI

• Recently introduced OverflowAI. The newly launched OverflowAI will offer users a series of new capabilities based on various AI/ML solutions sourced for both its public platform and market-leading SaaS product, Stack Overflow for Teams.
• With the launch of OverflowAI, the addition of AI/ML solutions will offer users a series of new capabilities that will ensure they get to solutions faster within their workflow.

Stack Overflow, the world’s largest, most trusted online community for developers and technologists to learn, share their programming knowledge, and build their careers, recently introduced OverflowAI. The newly launched OverflowAI will offer users a series of new capabilities based on various AI/ML solutions sourced for both its public platform and market-leading SaaS product, Stack Overflow for Teams.

Since its inception in 2008, its public platform has been one of the world's most visited websites, serving millions of the world’s most active developers and technologists visiting every month to ask questions, learn, and share technical knowledge. With the launch of OverflowAI, the addition of AI/ML solutions will offer users a series of new capabilities that will ensure they get to solutions faster within their workflow.

OverflowAI within Stack Overflow for Teams will drive the following:

• OverflowAI Enterprise Knowledge Ingestion: With OverflowAI, users of Stack Overflow for Teams can swiftly curate a knowledge base by using trusted existing content. AI/ML assists in creating initial tags and suggesting QA pairs, enabling developers to concentrate on enhancing and validating accuracy.
• Improved Search with OverflowAI: Teams on Stack Overflow can swiftly discover accurate answers and learning paths. Trusted sources include Stack Overflow for Teams, public Stack Overflow, as well as customer repositories like Confluence and GitHub - with more sources to be added.
• OverflowAI Visual Studio Code Extension: As developers spend a lot of time in an IDE, Stack Overflow will maintain that workflow. The extension integrates public platform and private Teams content, offering a personalized summary of how to solve problems efficiently and effectively.
• OverflowAI Slack Integration: StackPlusOne chatbot instantly delivers verified solutions while you are in Slack. GenAI integration uses community-validated sources while keeping a company’s data private.

On Stack Overflow’s public platform:

• OverflowAI Search: Public platform users get quick, reliable answers through GenAI-powered search. Using trusted data from 58M+ Stack Overflow Q&A, responses can be attributed and cited, having the capacity to expand queries to the knowledge base for more individualized, relevant results and follow-up inquiries.
• AI community discussions: Access unbiased tech resources and expert insights via the GenAI Stack Exchange, centered around knowledge sharing for writing prompts for GenAI tools and AI/ML more broadly. Stack Overflow's Natural Language Processing NLP Collective adds 'Discussions' for focused debates, sharing insights, and aiding informed decisions.

“For the last fifteen years, developers have come to Stack Overflow to get a solution to a specific problem. The problems we helped solve back in 2008 are not the ones we solved in 2023. As the needs of developers evolve, so does how they seek knowledge. Our goal is to be the most valuable destination for the world’s current and next generation of technologists,” said Prashanth Chandrasekar, Chief Executive Officer at Stack Overflow. As generative AI becomes more prevalent, Stack Overflow's foundation of trusted and accurate data will become increasingly important for developing the technological solutions that will drive future innovation.

About Stack Overflow

Across both its public and private platforms, Stack Overflow is empowering developer communities to discover the information, answers, and learning opportunities they need – when they need them. Millions of the world's developers and technologists visit Stack Overflow to ask questions, learn, and share technical knowledge, making it one of the most popular websites in the world. Stack Overflow’s market-leading knowledge-sharing and collaboration platform, Stack Overflow for Teams, helps more than 15,000 organizations distribute knowledge, increase efficiency, and innovate faster. Founded in 2008, Stack Exchange, Inc., the owner of Stack Overflow, is headquartered in New York, NY. Stack Overflow is a registered trademark of Stack Exchange, Inc

Cloudflare’s Startup Fund Grows to $2B; 1M Devs Now Building with Cloudflare Workers

Cloudflare’s “Workers Launchpad” Funding Program Grows to $2 Billion, Announces First Cohort of Startups

Funding program grows to 40 venture capital firms; first cohort of entrepreneurs building on Cloudflare Workers includes 25 startups, spanning 10 countries

Today, Cloudflare announced the Workers Launchpad Funding Program, originally launched in September at $1.25B, has grown to $2 billion in potential investment for startups building on Cloudflare Workers. This is an increase of 14 VC partners, including Kleiner Perkins, Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), and more, with an additional $750 million in less than two months, thanks to continued interest from VCs around the world. Cloudflare is also introducing the first cohort of startups participating in the program, featuring 25 companies from 10 countries.

Matthew Prince, Co-founder & CEO, Cloudflare

“When we set out to debut the Workers Launchpad, we were aiming for $250 million and surpassed that goal by a mile when we hit $1.25 billion. To reach $2 billion is a big deal, and one that proves the industry trusts in the potential of our global network” said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO, Cloudflare. “As we hit 1 million developers building and maintaining applications with Cloudflare, there’s no better time to continue investing in the developers using Cloudflare.”

The Cloudflare Workers Launchpad funding program initially launched in September 2022 to provide more than $1.25 billion of financing to startups building applications on Cloudflare Workers, a highly-scalable serverless computing platform that allows developers to build or augment apps without configuring or maintaining infrastructure. In the days and weeks following, Cloudflare received a surge in interest globally from venture capitalists interested in joining the program. Cloudflare has now welcomed 14 additional venture capital partners into the program, adding regional expertise in Latin America and the Middle East to the pool of partners.

New venture partners include:

• 8VC: “We’re extremely excited to be backing the next generation of founders building at the edge on top of Cloudflare Workers. At 8VC, we partner with founders to build transformational technologies that create long-term value for the economy and society as a whole. We believe that serverless infrastructure will enable a new generation of transformational technologies in the area of multi-modal, data and AI driven applications,” said Bhaskar Ghosh (BG), Partner and CTO at 8VC.
• B Capital: “Workers provides the technology and infrastructure to founders excited to build next generation products, and B Capital is proud to work alongside of these great innovators to provide insights and capital to grow in a bold way from the start,” said Karen Page, General Partner at B Capital.
• Benhamou Global Ventures: “The next generation of apps will be built in a distributed way and at the edge to meet the consumer demands of latency, performance and scale. We are excited to partner with the Cloudflare Workers Fund and support the entrepreneurs building this next wave of enterprise startups,” said Yash Hemaraj, Partner at BGV.
• Chamaeleon: “At Chamaeleon, we look forward to collaborating with Cloudflare's Workers Launchpad, by bringing the firm, our unique quant & tech platform and our #KIN members to the forefront of our value-add to this pioneering ecosystem,” said Nuno Goncalves Pedro, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Chamaeleon.
• Conversion Capital: “The Cloudflare Workers platform provides the building blocks to usher in a new era of serverless infrastructure, which is drastically reshaping large parts of the global economy run on software. We are excited to partner with Cloudflare and help accelerate this transition,” said Christian Lawless, General Partner at Conversion Capital.
• GGV: “We’ve been amazed by how quickly the Workers ecosystem has blossomed and are already seeing some of the most innovative founders we know building serverless products on top of or closely tied into Cloudflare. As more startups look to build on Workers from day one, we’re very excited about supporting the ecosystem,” said Dan Cahana, Investor at GGV Capital.
• IGNIA: “IGNIA’s focus of partnering with world-class tech entrepreneurs in Latin America aims to ensure the best technology can scale in and out of the region. Cloudflare Workers’ ability to have code running in minutes around the world gives so much potential to the entrepreneurs we want to see succeed,” said Alvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at IGNIA.
• Kleiner Perkins: "For five decades, Kleiner Perkins has partnered with founders at the earliest stages of company formation. Many of these companies were enabled by advances in computing, from the PC, to mobile, to cloud. The Cloudflare Workers Launchpad program stands to advance the next wave - edge computing. We're excited to be a part of the global platform they are building to support builders in this rapidly growing ecosystem,” said Bucky Moore, partner, Kleiner Perkins.
• Nauta Capital: “Thrilled to partner with Cloudflare on this Workers Launchpad Funding Program. Nauta Capital has been keenly following the technology disruptions in enterprise infrastructure software for decades, and developers are increasingly interested in spending time on the 'core problem', leaving infrastructure to be handled for them. Cloudflare provides a powerful platform for some of these new ideas to take shape,” said Pratima Aiyagari, Venture Partner at Nauta Capital.
• Primary VC: “At Primary, we love building with founders from the ground up. Cloudflare Workers has the performance and scale that founders need to build a category-defining company and we're eager to partner with the teams using this powerful platform,” said Brian Schechter, Partner at Primary VC.
• Unusual Ventures: “Founders want to focus on creating products that matter. To do that, they need partners and infrastructure that allow them to efficiently run secure, scalable applications. That's why we're excited to partner with Cloudflare on Workers Launchpad: to enable founders and teams with the tools they need to reach product-market fit and beyond," said Wei Lien Dang, General Partner at Unusual Ventures.

Introducing the Workers Launchpad’s Fall 2022 Cohort

Additionally, Cloudflare is announcing the Fall cohort of 25 entrepreneurs from around the world, chosen from hundreds of applicants from over 30 countries. Cohort finalists include Apyfy, working on data privacy, and Grafbase, accelerating backend software development. The cohort includes startups from

Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. The cohort will have the opportunity to pitch our VC partners for investment, receive technical advice and support, participate in a virtual boot camp featuring sessions led by Cloudflare leaders and our VC partners, and showcase their businesses during a Demo Day.

"Apyfy aims to provide a privacy firewall that solves data privacy challenges in the health care, financial service and ecommerce industries. We use Cloudflare Workers and Durable Objects to enable privacy-preserving computation across a global network. Cloudflare also solves our customers' data sovereignty and data residency requirements while providing massive compute power, and minimal latency,” said John Childs-Eddy, Cofounder of Apyfy.

"Grafbase is the easiest way to build and deploy GraphQL backends. We set out with Cloudflare thanks to their global network and serverless FaaS platform without cold starts, with the goal to simplify and speed up backend development for frontend and mobile developers," said Fredrik Björk, Founder and CEO of Grafbase.

“We’ve been blown away by the engagement and excitement the venture capital firms have shown when they saw the caliber of applicants,” said Mia Wang, M&A and Strategy Director at Cloudflare. “The selection process for the first cohort has been collaborative and we’re looking forward to connecting startups directly with VCs in the coming weeks.”

A Million Developers Building With Cloudflare

Earlier this week, Cloudflare shared that 1 million developers are building enterprise-ready applications with Cloudflare. With Workers features like Pages, Durable Objects, R2 and D1, and application services like rate limiting, load balancing, bot management and more, Cloudflare provides the tools to make building and maintaining applications cheaper, faster, and easier for developers.

To learn more, please check out the resources below:

Blog: Announcing the first Workers Launchpad cohort and growth of the program to [$2BN]

To apply to the Winter 2023 cohort, visit the Workers Launchpad page

Blog: Announcing the Workers Launchpad Funding Program

Blog: The Cloudflare Startup Plan, v2.0

Learn more about Cloudflare Workers

Get started with Cloudflare Workers

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc. (www.cloudflare.com / @cloudflare) is on a mission to help build a better Internet. Cloudflare’s suite of products protect and accelerate any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare have all web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures 2018 list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company in 2019. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Cloudflare has offices in Austin, TX, Champaign, IL, New York, NY, San Jose, CA, Seattle, WA, Washington, D.C., Toronto, Dubai, Lisbon, London, Munich, Paris, Beijing, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo.