Startups mushroom in Hyd on funding support

With growing awareness on entrepreneurship, amply supported by various networks, incubation centres and educational institutions, more and more start-up companies are sprouting up in Hyderabad.

“Earlier there were not enough mentors, role models and funding institutes to support the growth. However, things have changed in the last four-five years due to increasing usage of the Internet, online communications and social networks,” said Krishna Tanuku, executive director of Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (WCED) at Indian School of Business.

WCED’s Entrepreneurs Development Initiative (EDI), which commenced two-and-a-half years ago, has so far incubated 19 start-up companies. One of the start-ups recently received seed-funding from Hyderabad Angels while another six proposals are in the pipeline, he added.

ISB is building an ecosystem through research, mentoring programmes and by providing the tools to get connected with the stakeholders. In the last one year, around 100 working professional (between the 20 and 40 years) had come to EDI for starting their ventures. This number was only 30-35 a year ago, he said.

Hyderabad, being the hub of IT, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, has got a large pool of researchers, professional and research scientists working across industries. Organisations are helping these aspirants in selecting ideas, validation of domains, prototyping, giving access to funding and in getting their first customers.

The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), part of International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) that commenced in 2008, has incubated nine proposals so far, including six from IIIT students, said Nirmala Govindan, associated with CIE. The centre gets 20-25 proposals every two months.

The Hyderabad chapter of the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), with membership from 20 colleges, is also creating awareness through various activities in the city. Besides, the Hyderabad Angels network, promoted by 85 high-networth individuals and members from across industries, is also funding and mentoring these start-ups in the city.

“Every month, we get a number of proposals, of which we shortlist at least three. Selecting a company is a long process as a lot of due diligence goes in to fund them,” Hyderabad Angels network member JA Chowdary said.

Other institutions including IIT-Hyderabad, NIFT and the Institute of Public Policy and Institute of Social Entrepreneurship that planning to promote entrepreneurship ventures.

TiE to focus on Tier II and Tier III cities
The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Hyderabad chapter, a non-profit organisation set up by a group of entrepreneurs, is planning to focus on smaller cities in Andhra Pradesh.”We have plans to encourage entrepreneurship in Tier-II and Tier-III cities like Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada and conduct entrepreneurship awareness programmes," Chowdary added.

TiE-Hyderabad has 150 charter members and 200 associate members in the state.

Founded in 1992 in the Silicon Valley, TiE currently has over 13,000 members and more than 2,500 charter members in 57 chapters across 14 countries, and focuses on generating and nurturing next-generation entrepreneurs with a wide range of programmes and events.