T-Hub partners with MeitY, Digital India to help hardware startups

T-Hub, an initiative by the Telangana government for startups, on Friday said it has joined hands with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Digital India for helping hardware and IoT startups across the country.

T-Hub will lead Digital India's Scale Up program for hardware and Internet of Things (IoT) startups across India, a statement said.

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The aim is to help provide scale up opportunities to the startups and make them ready in terms of product, investment, and new market access, it added.

About 10-15 startups with leading-edge solutions in mobility, energy, agriculture, aerospace, manufacturing, consumer, healthtech, medtech, smart cities, and logistics and supply chain sectors will be shortlisted.

The call for application for the programme will commence in July 2020, and startups will be shortlisted after an extensive screening process, it added.

"India has already developed a reputation for its expertise in the software technology space. We are beginning to see startups emerging in the hardware space that are solving important problems. Schemes such as FAME II and Manufacturing-Hub plans by the Indian government has already laid a strong foundation," Ravi Narayan, CEO of T-Hub and chief innovation officer of the state of Telangana, said.

He added, to further fuel the growth of hardware and IoT startups in India, T-Hub has partnered with MeitY to take the ecosystem to the next level so that innovative startups can scale-up strategically.

"T-Hub brings its matured acceleration programme with access to customers, investors, and specialised mentors," he said.

The batch of startups will go through regular interventions through bootcamps and dedicated mentoring organised by T-Hub.

During the programme, startups will get exposure to design/enhance their hardware, the statement said.

In addition, they will receive mentorship in areas such as pricing, go-to-market strategies, and fundraising, amongst others. As part of the programme, the shortlisted startups will also receive equity-free grants, it added.