T-Hub to roll out health technology accelerator

T-Hub Health Tech Innovation Accelerator will be set up in partnership with pharmaceutical major Merck and Microsoft Ventures

T-Hub, a public-private-partnership (PPP) initiative by the Telangana government to support technology-enabled startups, is planning to set up four sector-specific accelerator programmes, beginning with one for health tech startups from May this year, according to its chief executive officer Jay Krishnan. 

Being set up in partnership with pharmaceutical major Merck and Microsoft Ventures, the healthcare accelerator, to be christened T-Hub Health Tech Innovation Accelerator, would be followed by three 90-day duration accelerator programmes for startups in the Internet of Things (IoT), agritech and business-to-business (B2B) solutions space over the next one year. 

“The health tech accelerator will comprise a structured and steady execution plan, a growth plan based on experimentation and metrics, and a well-prioritised product plan. 

The startups operating from the accelerator will further receive mentorship from domain experts and will be connected to a platform to receive investment from institutional ventures,” Krishnan said. 

T-Hub, touted as the country’s largest technology incubator, currently operates from a 70,000-sft ‘Catalyst’ building located on the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-Hyderabad) campus. 

“T-Hub has received around 1,600 applications for incubation space. Around 15 of these in the area of life sciences and bio technology will be selected for the health tech accelerator programme,” he said.