While it is natural for incubators supported by institutions like IIT and IIM and big companies to do well in the growth of startups, an incubation facility set up in a tier II city like Hubballi has surprisingly made it to the top 25 of the 100 best incubators in the country.
In the latest ranking list published by Entrepreneur, India Magazine, the Sandbox Startups for Global Incubation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Hubballi has been ranked 13 of the top 25 best incubators.
IIT-Madras Incubation Cell, RTBI, Bio and Medtech Incubator-IIT M Research Park; Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship-IIM-Ahmedabad; Nadathur S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning– IIM-Bangalore have ranked as the top three incubators in the country.
Founded by Gururaj Deshpande and Jaishree Deshpande of Deshpande Foundation, Sandbox Startups has been helping start ups establish themselves and expand their ventures.
So far, it has helped over 60 start ups mentoring their business and sales, extending technology assistance and also helping them get access to partner network and mentors, networking, fund raising and also tax-related services.
“We have the best infrastructure at the incubation facility, including various laboratories and tools. It is significant that we were assessed along with the incubators run by IIM, IIT and bigger companies,” said Naveen Jha, CEO of Deshpande Foundation.
In its assessment, the magazine has said that so far 68 start ups has benefited from the incubation service at Sandbox and of them, 48 start ups were active post-incubation.
Since its launch in 2008, Sandbox Startups has provided incubation support for first-time entrepreneurs to test and pilot their business ideas and to engage with investment firms, government agencies, successful entrepreneurs and mentors, on its premises at BVB College of Engineering and Technology in Hubballi.