Hyderabad-based startup engine T-Hub, which houses over 180 startups in its physical space, Catalyst is now extending its membership and incubation services to startups beyond the ones housed in its physical space.
Until now, to be a part of T-Hub and avail its resources and services, a startup would need to be physically present in Hyderabad in T-Hub’s physical space in the IIIT-Hyderabad campus. T-Hub is now extending its services to startups across the globe through the introduction of its ‘Virtual membership’ model.
A conventional incubator model helps a startup set up an office and provide services and resources, centered in a physical location. The virtual model, on the other hand, allows a company to garner the services of an incubator without the need to be located at the incubator.
“We want to extend our services to startups that cannot physically be present here. With a strong network and support from the Central and state government, corporates, investors, and top class educational Institutions, T-Hub can provide the best services that any startup would dream for,” says Ajay Jain, Vice President - Incubation and Scaling, T-Hub.
In the case of T-Hub’s virtual membership, it is looking for startups that have reached a certain level and are at seed stage and above. And as with the process followed by any startup looking for a physical space at T-Hub, those looking for the virtual membership will also have to go through a selection criteria.
The six-month membership will offer a host of services to the member startups, who will have the option of picking and choosing which ones they need.
Startups will have access to mentors of T-Hub, which can help startups with required exposure, insights, and intelligence that help take a startup to the next level.
Another advantage T-Hub startups enjoy, which will be extended to the virtual members will be corporate partners. T-Hub will enable a platform for networking with corporates which could help in these corporates becoming end users, potential acquirers, mentors and business model enablers and even help with B2B sales.
Startups will also have access to investors that are a part of T-Hub’s network. Ajay says that if T-Hub believes that a startup has potential, it will also support them with required PR and visibility.
T-Hub regularly conducts workshops and talk series on topics including every aspect of the business by speakers who are usually industry leaders, or scholars in their own fields, which virtual members will also have access to.
Virtual members can also use the address of the T-Hub campus for their operations for the period while their membership is active and can even access the T-Hub team physically during office hours.
Additionally, startups will have access to webinars by business unit heads at T-Hub and other influencers in the ecosystem, hardware lab for startups in IoT or ESDM domain, T-Hub’s network of Indian and international organizations, consisting of accelerators, investment groups, policy makers and other startup-focused groups from across the globe.
Lastly, T-Hub partners with service providers in a wide array of sectors; HR, legal, cloud services, CA, advisory, and secretarial services to attend to the needs of its startups. These partners provide startups with a host of free or discounted services, which virtual members will have access to as well.
The Virtual Membership will be an ongoing process and the applications for it are now open
This article has been produced with inputs from T-Hub as a part of a partner program.