The first cohort of T-Hub’s flagship incubation programme ‘Lab32’ is set to graduate in April 2019. The cohort, which began in May 2018 saw 70 startups go through a year of intensive mentoring. As they near graduation, T-Hub claims that these 70 startups have created over 2000 jobs and raised over Rs 112 crore in total.
Lab32 is T-Hub’s incubation program, which involves tailor-made mentoring with a set of playbooks meant to guide startups and help them through each aspect of their business. At the time of its launch, T-Hub said that the playbooks would ensure each startup improved specific metrics of their business including funding, revenue, clients, among others. The playbooks also covered aspects such as marketing and branding, company structuring, accounting, sales discipline, sales strategies, etc.
Initially designed as a six-month program, it was extended to make it a year-long program.
Having undergone a year of the programme, T-Hub says that these 70 startups achieved an average revenue of Rs 27 lakh per startup in the last three months. Lab32 startups also received over 50 awards and notable recognitions so far.
“During the Lab32 programme, we never felt that we were in a race competing against any of the startups here. Instead, it felt like a large congregation of entrepreneurs trying to achieve what they want to, and in the process, lifting each other,” Dr. Ramya Gujjula, Co-Founder, Nexrea said.
Each startup in the first cohort was also allocated a buddy, accessible to the startups at all times.
With the first cohort set to graduate in less than 2 months, T-Hub is now inviting applications for its second cohort. While all tech startups with some market traction are eligible to apply, the focus this time will be on healthcare, finance, education, smart mobility, sustainability, social impact, and smart cities, using technology like artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, augmented reality/virtual reality/extended reality, blockchain etc.
“The acceleration in growth and guidance that the first batch of 70 startups received from Lab32 is a testimony to the success of our incubation program. T-Hub elevated the level of market understanding for each of the incubated startup that enabled them to analyse the market appetite for their offerings,” Ravi Narayan, CEO, T-Hub said in a statement inviting applications for the second cohort.