Coverstory - Building the Future
A premier innovation hub and ecosystem enabler based out of Hyderabad, India, T-Hub leads India's pioneering innovation ecosystem and strives to create an impact for startups, corporations, and other ecosystem stakeholders.
In the last seven years, T-Hub's team size of more than 50 professionals from diverse backgrounds is enabling the innovation journey for entrepreneurs, corporate leaders/CIOs, and investors globally. As a result, T-Hub has evolved from being a startup incubator to a leading innovation hub in India. Due to this robust innovation ecosystem that T-Hub has built, it has seen a rise in the number of startups from 400 then to about 2,500 now.
Srinivas Rao Mahankali, CEO, T-Hub, elaborates on the innovation hub's remarkable journey, "T-Hub aims to further boost this growth with the new innovation campus. Through various programs and initiatives, we have supported over 2,500 startups and over 600 corporates like Meta, Boeing, Otis, AWS, and more. We have enabled startups to continue to raise significant amounts of funding from various programs and these startups have raised US $1.9 billion in funding to date."
World-class infrastructure
With a strong representation of technology at its core, T-Hub is built in a T-shaped structure spread across a total built-up area of 5,82,689 sq ft and ten floors. The building is a microcosm of the innovation ecosystem, which includes startups, corporates, investors, academia, and national and international ecosystem enablers. With an effective carpet area of 3,50,000 sq ft, T-Hub has 10 floors (ground plus 10) operations with 1,000 seats for startups. On the sixth floor, 18,000 sq ft are allocated to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and AIC T-Hub Foundation, an association formed at T-Hub, in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog. The seventh floor is assigned to the Department of Science and Technology's (DST) Centre of Excellence to promote artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The eighth and ninth floors are proposed for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project, along with social impact startups and young entrepreneurs (Y-Hub).
The innovation campus is equipped with world-class fixed, flexible, private office spaces, meeting rooms, floor pantries, a cafeteria, etc. It offers two event rooms with the latest technologies for AV systems, a grand atrium with 400 seating capacity and designated areas for the corporates' Centre of Excellence (CoE), and an experience center for showcasing startup innovation.
Helping Startups Scale Sustainably
T-Hub has helped over 300 Indian and 200 international startups scale globally through 10 market access programs and 18 international interventions in partnership with global ecosystem players across 42 countries. It has also onboarded 75 premium value partners and a pool of over 100 mentors to help startups scale sustainably.
Shedding light on T-Hub's plans to further strengthen the overall innovation ecosystem to support this growth, MSR adds, "T-Hub aims to impact at least 20,000 startups through various program interventions in the next five years. Its large-scale incubation and acceleration activities will include early revenue and early-scale companies. The new phase of T-Hub has an enhanced focus on internationalization and capacity building with new foreign partnerships. The new facility has the presence of international partners from Japan, Korea, and Dubai, among others."
To empower the thriving startup ecosystem, the innovation hub envisions supporting entrepreneurs in their growth journey by providing them with access to 6Ms—Mentors, Market, Motivation, Manpower, Money, and Methodologies and 2Ps—Partnership and Policy advisory.
Together in Overcoming Crisis
Indian startups are now facing many challenges and are witnessing Black Swan events created by COVID-19. When asked how T-Hub can help them navigate these challenges, MSR replies, "While the startup world of Hyderabad has dealt with the COVID crisis relatively well, the slowdowns and setbacks it has caused, need to be overcome. Thus, the role of ecosystem enablers like us becomes crucial. From supporting startups in their early stages to providing mentoring, guidance, co-working space, and also, at times, some funding, ecosystem enablers are the first port of call for any budding entrepreneur."
At T-Hub, mentors play an instrumental role in building a stronger community of startups and creating a dynamic innovation ecosystem. With a dedicated focus on 6Ms and 2Ps, the hub empowers the growing startup ecosystem and supports them in their entrepreneurial journey. In addition, programs like RubriX, T-Hub's first prototype development program, FalconX, a global startup immersion program, and others are further helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses.
Telangana's Relevance
In the 2022 Global Startup Ecosystem Report published by T-Hub and Startup Genome, the state of Telangana is highlighted as one of the top 10 Global Ecosystems and 4 Asian Ecosystems in affordable talent.
MSR tells us more about the current startup ecosystem in the state, "Telangana is at the forefront of building a world-class innovation ecosystem through a mix of passionate entrepreneurs, high-quality talent availability, supportive government policy, and access to capital. As a result, the startup community has experienced phenomenal growth across various sectors, especially Life Sciences, AI, Big Data, Analytics, and Agritech. We are poised to strengthen the overall innovation ecosystem further to support this growth sustainably and equitably for all the stakeholders, with a prime focus on entrepreneurs."
"Hyderabad in Telangana is the IT hub of India, with IT/ITeS exports reaching `1,83,569 crore (US$ 22.95 billion) in FY22, a 26.14 percent increase YoY. Moreover, the state is home to major tech companies in the world. Hence, the state's resilience is posed to achieve success in the coming times and become a significant hub for events of national and international importance. Various ecosystem enablers such as TSIC, T-Works, WE HUB, RICH, and TASK have boosted collaboration and innovation. Through T-Hub's robust innovation ecosystem, we strive to create an impact for startups, corporations, and other ecosystem stakeholders. We are focused on building the ecosystem as a facilitator and catalyst and building thought leadership and innovative entrepreneurship," he adds.
T-Hub has helped over 300 Indian and 200 international startups scale globally through 10 market access programs and 18 international interventions in partnership with global ecosystem players across 42 countries. It has also onboarded 75 premium value partners and a pool of over 100 mentors to help startups scale sustainably.
Telangana is at the forefront of building a world-class innovation ecosystem through a mix of passionate entrepreneurs, high-quality talent availability, supportive Government policy, and access to capital. As a result, the startup community has experienced phenomenal growth across various sectors, especially Life Sciences, AI, Big Data, Analytics, and Agritech.
"Hyderabad in Telangana is the IT hub of India, with IT/ITeS exports reaching ` 1,83,569 crore (US$ 22.95 billion) in FY22, a 26.14 percent increase YoY. Moreover, the state is home to major tech companies in the world. Hence, the state's resilience is posed to achieve success in the coming times and become a significant hub for events of national and international importance."
Srinivas Rao Mahankali (MSR)
CEO T-Hub
"T-Hub aims to further boost this growth with the innovation campus. Through various programs and initiatives, we have supported over 2,500 startups and over 600 corporates like Meta, Boeing, Otis, AWS, and more. We have enabled startups to continue to raise significant amounts of funding from various programs and these startups have raised US $1.9 billion in funding to date."
Srinivas Rao Mahankali (MSR)
CEO T-Hub