Telangana, the ‘startup’ State

Jun 3, 2022 admin 207 Views

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Published: Published Date – 12:13 AM, Fri – 3 June 22

Under the mandate of the innovation policy, Telangana State Innovation Cell was set up in 2017 to build and nurture the culture
of innovation in the State. — Photo: Anand Dharmana

Hyderabad: Even though the State of Telangana joined the startup party late it was still able to metamorphose the ecosystem in the last eight years and the startups in the State account for around 15-20 per cent of India’s overall startup population. According to the startup portal of Telangana, there are over 6,660-plus startups registered in the State and they have raised funds to the tune of Rs 10,950 crore by 2020.

While 356 are seed-funded startups, about 148 are venture-funded startups and the State is home to over 57 incubators and accelerators – both government-supported and privately-held. From incubators that purely support women-led businesses like the WE Hub to incubators supporting agriculture-oriented startups like the AgHub, the State has a robust support system for the startups.

Telangana was one of the first States to launch the Innovation Policy in 2016 which aimed to boost innovation and entrepreneurship by leveraging upon its natural demographic assets with the help of technology and research professionals. Under the mandate of the innovation policy, Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC) was set up in 2017 to build and nurture the culture of innovation in the state.

Today, it acts as the first response of the State government for aspiring innovators, startups, and changemakers. “The State’s startup ecosystem has set wonderful strides and sprouted well through its ‘Start local, dream global’ approach. The State’s remarkable infrastructure and sound regulation have created a haven for the innovation stakeholders and the government’s push towards making Hyderabad the entrepreneurial capital of India is further boosting Telangana’s status as the young and rising State in the startup ecosystem,” said M Srinivas Rao, CEO, T-Hub.

Another flagship initiative of the State is WE Hub, a first-of-its-kind incubator for women entrepreneurs. WE Hub CEO Deepthi Ravula said: “One of the unique aspects of Telangana has always been the end-to-end perspective for any scale of business. It has been consistently rated among the best States for starting a business due to its forward-looking yet functional policies.”

WE Hub has been focusing on making every enterprise sustainable. About 95 per cent of the enterprises at WE Hub have worked including in Tier 2, and Tier 3 regions of Telangana are still sustaining and scaling.

Anthill Ventures, which is a Hyderabad-based investment and scaling platform, partner Sailesh Sigatapu said, “Telangana’s strong focus on innovation and entrepreneurship has enhanced its appeal as a young and rising startup hub. In recent years, we have seen closer cooperation between public and private sector stakeholders on innovation-focused initiatives in Telangana.” Srinivas Rao added, “what took place over the past 8 years is probably going to be a mere fraction of what is to come.”