Woxsen University’s incubator set to create unicorns

The Trade Tower aims to give Woxsen students and non-students access to space, intellectual resources, mentorship, and funding. The incubation centre is part of a larger vision of Woxsen University to support entrepreneurial thinking and action.

Hyderabad: Woxsen University’s startup incubator ‘Trade Tower’ is aiming to create and nurture innovation, startups and entrepreneurs, ultimately leading to the creation of unicorns, companies that are valued at over $1 billion.

The Trade Tower aims to give Woxsen students and non-students access to space, intellectual resources, mentorship, and funding. The incubation centre is part of a larger vision of Woxsen University to support entrepreneurial thinking and action.

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Kashyap Kompella, head, Trade Tower, Woxsen University, told Telangana Today, in an exclusive interview, “Our vision is not just to incubate startups but build unicorns. We will focus on only those businesses that will have a billion dollar value or beyond. We are going to focus on hot and trending areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. There is a trait for startups to become unicorns. We will identify those startups that can have scale and large market opportunities and give them the set of resources they need to achieve success.”

“We will run specific programmes. One programme will be called ‘Unicorn Calling’, a six-month programme, where we will introduce hands-on mentorship courses to students who are enterprising. Initially, students will be involved in the programme, and gradually we will open up for non-students as well. Our vision is to build at least one unicorn from our Trade Tower,” he added.

Trade Tower will have an ideation platform, where the team will filter and evaluate and get startups into the incubator. The incubator will also have ventures where founders and co-founders could be roped in who fit such ventures. The incubator’s advisory board is being expanded to 12 people, representing industry thought leaders, venture capitalists, angel investors, serial entrepreneurs and existing startup founders.

Kompella further added, “We could primarily look at areas such as fintech plus B2B commerce, artificial intelligence-driven agriculture supply chain, and blockchain-based solutions that could have wider applications. We will have two pitch sessions in a year where startups can pitch for funding and investors can evaluate their potential and invest in promising startups.”

The Trade Tower will soon launch an online portal that will connect all the stakeholders and create a dedicated physical infrastructure.