Hyderabad, India, July 17, 2020: T-Hub, which leads India’s pioneering innovation ecosystem, today announced its partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Digital India. T-Hub will lead Digital India’s Scale Up program for hardware and IoT startups across India. MeitY, Digital India’s aim is to provide scale-up opportunities to the startups and make them ready in terms of product, investment and new market access.
MeitY and Digital India have partnered with T-Hub based on its rich and successful experience of running various programs for key stakeholders, such as startups, corporates, government, investors and ecosystem enablers. As many as 10-15 startups with leading-edge solutions in mobility, energy, agriculture, aerospace, manufacturing, consumer, health tech, medtech, smart cities and logistics and supply chain sectors will be shortlisted. The call for application for the program will commence in July 2020. Startups will be shortlisted from hundreds of applications after an extensive screening process.
Ravi Narayan, CEO of T-Hub and Chief Innovation Officer of the State of Telangana, said, “India has already developed a reputation for its expertise in the software technology space. We are beginning to see startups emerging in the hardware space that are solving important problems. Schemes such as FAME II and Manufacturing-Hub plans by the Indian government has already laid a strong foundation. To further fuel the growth of hardware and IoT startups in India, T-Hub has partnered with MeitY to take the ecosystem to the next level so innovative startups can scale-up strategically. T-Hub brings its matured acceleration program with access to customers, investors and specialized mentors.”
The batch of startups will go through regular interventions through boot camps and dedicated mentoring organized by T-Hub. During the program, startups will get exposure to design/enhance their hardware. In addition, they will receive mentorship in areas such as pricing, go-to-market strategies, fundraising, amongst others. As part of the program, the shortlisted startups will also receive equity-free grants.
Additional benefits that the startups will receive are as follows:
- Personalized 1:1 mentorship with business leaders.
- Access to T-Hub’s network of mentors, industry experts, investors, premium service providers and ecosystem enablers.
- Opportunity to work with subject matter experts and mentors to refine business models and go-to-market strategy.
- Selected startups stand a chance to avail of equity-free grants.
- Opportunity to collaborate with MeitY Startup Hub.
- Access to a series of boot camps and interventions.
Dr. Ajai Garg, CEO of MeitY Startup Hub said, “The Union Government has been continuously working towards strengthening the startup and innovation ecosystem of the country. MeitY Startup Hub has been set up in order to facilitate MeitY’s vision of promoting technological innovation, startups and the creation of intellectual properties. We are positive that our latest partnership with T-hub, which leads India’s pioneering innovation ecosystem, will catalyze the scale-up efforts of hardware/IoT startups in the country. It is important for us to engage the startup community and bring innovative thinking into product development that can accelerate the creation of new offerings in the hardware space.”
The selection criteria for the startups are as follows:
- Each startup team must have at least one full-time employee.
- The product or technology the startup is offering a functionality or capability that is currently not available in any off the shelf product, or a functionality/capability that can be demonstrated to possess a significant advantage over current offerings in some aspect.
- The product or technology the startup is offering for consideration represents original ideas wholly-owned with freedom to use or is licensed by the team.
- Seed/pre-seed startups with a fully working prototype, with established technical capability
- The product or service represents original ideas wholly-owned with freedom to use or is licensed by the team.
The call for applications for startups in India is now open and interested participants can apply here
