Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao inaugurated the new facility of business incubator T-Hub in Hyderabad on Tuesday, June 28. The new building, called T-Hub 2.0, comes with a total built-up area of over 5.82 lakh square feet. This makes it the world's largest innovation campus, the second largest being startup incubator Station F based in France, an official release had earlier said. The facility was inaugurated in the presence of founders of various unicorn startups from across India, as well as founders of various promising startups from Hyderabad. Established in 2015, T-Hub (Technology Hub) is an innovation hub and ecosystem enabler based out of Hyderabad.
Founders of unicorn startups like Bigbasket, BlackBuck, CoinSwitch, Delhivery, Akash, Policybazaar, upGrad, Urban Company and others were invited to launch T-Hub 2.0 by passing on a ‘flame of entrepreneurship’ among themselves and then to CM KCR. The founders of these startups, along with Hyderabad-based startups like MyGate, Skyroot, Doosra, WhistleDrive and others, were felicitated by CM KCR.
Speaking at the inaugural event, T-Hub CEO Srinivas Rao Mahankali said that founders of around 21 unicorn startups with a combined market value of over 50 billion USD were present at the inauguration. He also said that T-Hub was in talks with the Odisha government to set up a similar incubator, and also in discussions with two other state governments to replicate the T-Hub model. “So far, we have supported about 1100 startups and helped raise about 1.9 billion USD of funding. Our charter is to support 20,000 startups in five years,” Srinivas Rao said, adding that there will be a focus on five different specialised verticals – health, electric vehicles and mobility, gaming and animation, and deep tech.
Telangana IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan had told NTV prior to the inauguration that T-Hub 2.0 is five times bigger than the previous iteration. “In T-Hub phase 1, around 800 startups could be accommodated. Now in phase 2, up to 4,000 startups can be accommodated,” he said. He also said that the new building will have an entire floor allotted for venture capital (VC) firms.
“This was a flaw in the first phase of T-Hub, as many VCs preferred Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Gurgaon over Hyderabad. In the first phase of T-Hub, there were no special facilities for them. But in T-Hub 2.0, we are giving an entire floor to VCs. If any of them want to set up an office here, we are giving them free space. With VCs being nearer, startups will also have a better chance of getting funding,” Jayesh Ranjan said. He added that the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will set up its headquarters at T-Hub 2.0 According to reports, the building will also house an Atal Innovation Mission Centre sanctioned by the Department of Science & Technology, a centre of the Startup India Mission, and a Centre of Excellence in Cybersecurity among other establishments.
Jayesh Ranjan also said that the Telangana government plans to set up additional regional T-Hubs at five centres in Karimnagar, Warangal, Khamma, Nizamabad and Mahabubnagar. “People from these regions can get support at these centres for a preliminary estimate of their idea’s strength and how it can be taken forward. Those who show talent there will be brought here (T-Hub 2.0),” the official said.
Live: CM Sri KCR speaking after inaugurating T-Hub phase 2 facility in Hyderabad. #InnovateWithTHub https://t.co/jCvSwptW3k
— Telangana CMO (@TelanganaCMO) June 28, 2022