Telangana is favoured destination for startups: E&Y white paper

The State has established several enablers for the start-up ecosystem in the form of incubators which includes T-WORKS, T-HUB, RICH, T-Fibre and TASK, it said.

Hyderabad: The Telangana State government has been working as a catalyst in developing a conducive environment for innovators and start-ups to prosper and grow. The State has a unique business model for growing a sturdy startup environment and to foster an innovation-led economy, a White Paper on “Hyderabad-The emerging Startup Hub in India,” released at the FinTech Festival India here on Friday, said.

The White Paper, brought out by E&Y, a major consultancy firm, said the State was striving to maintain a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem that it created over the years and wanted to strengthen its current position as the nation’s most favoured destination for startups. The State has established several enablers for the start-up ecosystem in the form of incubators which includes T-WORKS, T-HUB, RICH, T-Fibre and TASK, it said.

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Hyderabad has a world-class physical infrastructure for incubation and co-working spaces. T-Hub Phase 2 will have 3,00,000 sqft and two floors of it will be dedicated for the social innovation ecosystem to support over 200-plus social startups, it pointed out. Plans are also on to set up separate social innovation outposts in the IT Towers of five Tier-II cities – Nizamabad, Warangal, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, and Khammam to ensure that both urban and rural enterprises have access to networks and events organised by the startup ecosystem in Telangana, the report said.

The State conceptualised InnoLabs – a collaborative space for individuals and organisations working on solving social challenges. InnoLabs will provide infrastructure for meetings and collaborations, it said.

The State government also has plans to set up Telangana Social Startups Network to bring all key stakeholders like startups, incubators and accelerators to share insights and co-create products or services. The State has set up incubators T-Hub and WEHub and also hasa robust intellectual property (IP) support system in place to help startups.

The State’s Blockchain Policy has made Hyderabad one of the top ten blockchain cities in the world. The State also launched an early-stage investing vehicle named Telangana Innovation Fund (T-Fund). Additionally, it has set up T-SEED Fund(Rs 250 crore), to fund startups in the seed stage, and `Phoenix Fund’, a first of its kind initiative in collaboration with the private sector, to encourage startups, the report said.

Hyderabad has around 183 fintech companies making it the fourth-biggest ecosystem after Bengaluru, Mumbai, and New Delhi. The city accounts for 42% of the total fintech in India and is primarily into funding solutions, credit scoring system, P2P lending, financial planning, and billing solutions. The city also has the Hyderabad FinTech Forum (HFF) with participation from startups, incubators, corporate, regulators, investors, and research institutions. The fintech companies in Hyderabad enjoy government support along side the presence of the best IT talents and attempt to mainly bridge the financing-gap conceivable in India’s current economy, the report said.