“The Pacific Incubator, spread over 1,600 sft, is a pilot programme and we plan to run the cohorts for six months. The first cohort will start with two startups -- RiskEdge and DoConf -- even as we are in the process of signing a contract with a third startup in due course," Ramesh Loganathan, managing director of Progress Software India, told mediapersons.
Loganathan said the 23-seater incubator, which could take up to five early-stage startups, had scope to reconfigure to accommodate more. The facility will provide workplace to startups and free access to the Pacific platform to build their solutions.
After looking at the success of the pilot in Hyderabad, Dave Benson, executive vice-president and chief information officer of Progress, said the company would evaluate opportunities to replicate the model at the company's three other largest geographical locations with strong engineering presence -- Boston, North Carolina and Bulgaria.
“There have been talks within the company to have an internal incubator to encourage ideas of employees,” Benson said, while not ruling out the possibility of Progress floating a seed fund to nurture the early-stage startup ecosystem.