T-Fund invests Rs 1.5 crore in three startups

Hyderabad: Innovation hub and ecosystem enabler T-Hub said it has disbursed Rs 1.5 crore to three startups through the T-Fund. Among the selected startups, Perspect.Ai received Rs 1 crore while Millet Bowl and Lauriko received Rs 25 lakh each. T-Fund was set up by the Telangana government under its State Innovation Policy. T-Fund is a […]

Hyderabad: Innovation hub and ecosystem enabler T-Hub said it has disbursed Rs 1.5 crore to three startups through the T-Fund. Among the selected startups, Perspect.Ai received Rs 1 crore while Millet Bowl and Lauriko received Rs 25 lakh each.

T-Fund was set up by the Telangana government under its State Innovation Policy. T-Fund is a co-investment fund where it will invest alongside established Angels, Angel Networks, and venture capitalists. The funding is sponsored by the Information Technology, Electronics and Communications department.

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“We took a terrible hit during the first wave of Covid pandemic and have pivoted. This money will help us strengthen our product and sales teams,” said Jignesh Talasila, Co-founder and CEO of Perspect.Ai.

“Millet Bowl is working towards increasing the level of healthy snacking. This fund will enable us to provide incentives and benefits to millet farmers in Telangana,” said Sanjay Kumar, CEO and Managing Director of Millet Bowl.

Lauriko, which works in the nutraceutical segment, will use the funds towards research and development, technology and team expansion, said its Founder and CEO Lavanya Sunkari.

The State government appointed T-Hub as the investment manager for the T-Fund. It had allocated Rs 15 crore in the 2021-22 budget to initiate T-Fund operations. T-Fund plans to fund 15-20 startups each year with an average ticket size of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore per startup. It aims to support around 100 startups over five years.

As an investment manager, T-Hub will formulate investment and business development strategies for the T-Fund. Startups in Information Technology, cleantech, agritech, fintech, health-tech, logistics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, AR/VR, hardware, blockchain, consumer technology and other sectors can apply.

“Startups have the potential to become engines of job creation. With T-Fund, our priority is to accelerate innovation and scaling up,” said M Srinivas Rao, T-Hub CEO.

Interested startups can apply for T-Fund at https://bit.ly/3D5wJvU. The startups are evaluated by an Investment Advisory Committee. T-Hub will offer mentoring, access to potential clients, distribution networks and corporate connections to startups that get selected for the funding.

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