HYDERABAD: IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao’s announcement on Sunday, September 13, 2021, that the T-Hub 2.0 facility was almost ready comes as a big boost for startups, considering how much the first phase of the project has impacted them.
Established in 2015, the first phase of T-Hub is housed at IIIT Hyderabad campus in Gachibowli, in 70,000 sq ft of built-up space. The innovation ecosystem enabler has impacted more than 1,100 start-ups since then, with more than `1,860 crore funds raised through over a hundred programmes held at the start-up incubator.
Despite the lockdown, T-Hub has virtually conducted the third batch of Lab 32 — its flagship incubation programme, and held the fourth batch in October 2021. In collaboration with the Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC), a community programme for start-ups was also conducted virtually, giving an opportunity to more than 50 start-ups to connect with T-Hub.
The Fintech Accelerator Programme was launched in collaboration with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) this year to support start-ups that are revolutionising the digital payments industry. A funding desk is also being built at T-Hub, which is working to help curated start-ups apply for grants and make pitches to selected investors for funding.