For start-ups struggling in the face of COVID-19 impact on business, the Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC) in association with some of the prominent incubators in the city has rolled out a programme to help such budding ventures rejig their strategies.
The Re-jig.HydStartups initiative will be powered by incubators like T-Hub, CIE-IIITH, IKP, RICH and TiE. Startups from various domains will be enabled through domain-specific mentoring and market access. The sectors targeted are— EdTech, FinTech, FMCG, Manufacturing, Agri/Food tech, Med/Life sciences and emerging technologies, a release from IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao’s office said. IKP Chairman and CEO Deepanwita Chattopadhyay said the collective initiative will help start-ups in securing funding to tide over the crunch period.
The application process for Rejig.HydStartups have opened and close on July 20. The programme will be for four weeks and conclude with the demo days to investors and corporates in mid-August.
All the shortlisted start-ups will be provided three weeks of mentoring to review their strategy and re-fine it to address present business climate and constraints, specifically identify promising domains and target companies, and revise the positioning and pitch, the release said.
The programme will culminate in a pitch day event, with over 100 screened start-ups pitching for equity funding, collateral-free debt funding, or corporate market access. Leading companies in the targeted domains will be invited to review the startups and consider pilots.
IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said it is heartening to see the community of research incubators in the city, anchored by the State Innovation Cell, coming together to rally around promising deep IP startups.