After launching T-Angel, a funding programme to help raise capital for startups, now Hyderabad-based startup incubator T-Hub is reportedly, all brace to begin its maiden batch under T-Angel. With applications set to close at the end of this month, the first set of 30 will begin the programme in the first week of November, cited Mint.
Ravi Narayan, CEO at T-Hub said that startups chosen under the three-month investment acceleration programme will be helpful for startups which have very significant products to offer.
“We have been getting applications from all across the country. A lot of startups require help to get them early stage money, and this is a programme about how to take them to the next level. There is a set of mentors that come in for that,” he further said.
T-Hub is a state government initiative for startup, which was formed in 2015. The initiative has provided over 1100+ national and international startups with access to better technology, talent, mentors, customers, corporates, investors, and government agencies.
Whereas, T-Angel is a three-month investment acceleration programme where as many as 30 startups with the cutting-edge solutions in healthcare, real estate, entertainment, sports, education, and finance will be shortlisted.
This funding programme is significant as Hyderabad lags behind cities like Bengaluru and Delhi in terms of number of startups present in the city, and has to catch up in terms of creating a much stronger startup ecosystem.
T-Angel is a joint venture with the Telangana state government and will be executed by T-Hub and online investment platform LetsVenture.
As per the data, around 97 startups were founded in Hyderabad in 2019, as against 188 and 209 in Bengaluru and Delhi, respectively.
Whereas, in the case of a unicorn formations, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai had at least one company achieving unicorn status, Hyderabad had none.
“In the Angel programme, what we are focussed are on startups which have something very significant, which is where our mentors will try to understand how best to get these startups funded because the market opportunities are very significant. I think what is missing in these cases is their ability to articulate what they are doing,” Narayan further stated.