T-Hub, future is here

Facility helps over 1,120 startups garner about Rs 1,800 crore investment; phase-II getting ready

Hyderabad: In its five years of existence, T-Hub, India’s largest facility for innovation and entrepreneurship that is backed by the Telangana government, has so far helped more than 1,120 startups garner about Rs 1,800 crore in investment and provided employment to over 2,500 people in Hyderabad itself, Ravi Narayan, Chief Executive Officer, T-Hub, has said.

He said that Phase 2 or T-Hub 2.0 was just around the corner where a swanky premises, measuring 3.75 lakh sqft, was getting ready. It would move to the new premises, being built at a cost of Rs 276 crore, in the first quarter of 2021. The building would house more than 1,500 startups, making it the largest startup incubation centre in the world, once operational.

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T-Hub, a business incubator headquartered in Hyderabad, is a partnership among the State government, three city’s academic institutes — the International Institute of Information Technology, the Indian School of Business and the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research) — and the private sector. It rents out office and meeting space, and offers services such as connections with mentors and investors to startup companies in the technology sector.

“T-Hub is a unique initiative in the country. I have been engaged with startups in China, the US, Europe and Israel. But the game here in Hyderabad is different. We are dealing with multiple ecosystems that foster innovation and not just individual startups. There are multiple stakeholders involved including the Telangana Government, academia, research and industry. These are key for generating demand,” the CEO said.

“Due to this robust innovation ecosystem that T-Hub has built, we have seen a rise in the number of startups from 400 then to about 2,000 now,” he said, adding that the incubator had designed and delivered more than 75 innovation programmes in the last five years. The innovation hub and ecosystem enabler had also created more than 325 international startup connects.

T-Hub’s corporate memberships and partnerships have enabled more than 350 startups to collaborate, raise money or get acquired by large corporates. Of them, about 100 startups are from Hyderabad which engaged in such programmes. “It is not necessary that a large corporate should possess all the skillsets required for new innovation. Some of them can turn up to startup partners,” he said, adding that more corporates were now open to collaborations with startups.

Narayan said investors were looking up to Hyderabad as a viable option as they were finding good startups. The academia was also ensuring a steady supply of personnel with the required technical skills. “In conceiving the idea of T-Hub, Telangana has created a unique model to foster innovation and entrepreneurship across verticals. Hyderabad has become a big source of business for startups while many corporates are finding able partners and collaborators in them,” he said. About 435 corporations are working with T-Hub.

The Covid has led to a change in the way the programmes are being offered. “We have quickly added a digital channel for mentoring and for delivering our programmes. We will use the digital engagement channel prominently to reach more startups,” he said, adding that the focus would be on evolving solutions for the global problems. The number of corporates that T-Hub was working with would also increase to 600 from the existing 435. There would also be a big increase in the number of academic partners. “We are working with about 70 investors now and that will increase to about 300 in a year,” the Chief Executive said.

Charting new course

• T-Hub has so far helped over 1,120 startups garner about Rs 1,800 cr investment
• Designed and delivered more than 75 innovation programmes in five years
• Aided in employment to over 2,500 people in Hyderabad itself
• Corporate memberships and partnerships have enabled over 350 startups to collaborate, raise money or get acquired by large corporates
• Investors looking up to Hyderabad as a viable option, given the presence of quality startups
• Number of corporates that T-Hub is working with to increase to 600 from 435

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