India’s largest startup incubation centre inaugurated in Hubballi

This new centre endeavours to foster an inclusive startup ecosystem by providing a platform to validate startup ideas and create linkages between startups and all of the stakeholders.

The city of Hubballi got India’s largest startup incubation centre, built by Sandbox Startups, a technology business incubator recognised by the central government. On Wednesday, Niti Aayog Chairman Amitabh Kant inaugurated the centre that has a built-up area of 100,000 sq ft and can accommodate a hundred companies at a time.

Spread across 6.09 acres of land situated on Gokul Road near the airport, the new facility is the first of its kind in India with full-fledged facilities including a makers lab (place where people can learn and use new technologies they may otherwise not have access to) and ESDM (Electronics Systems Design and Manufacturing) cluster. It also has all the amenities needed for a robust startup ecosystem to flourish.

A press release said this new centre endeavours to foster an inclusive startup ecosystem by providing a platform to validate startup ideas and create linkages between startups and all of the stakeholders, like mentors, investors, and early customers. The incubator is targeted to support the startups that serve semi-urban and rural population.

Kant said, “India needs disruptive innovation to tackle challenges in sectors like health, education and agriculture. We have to take a big leap in social innovation to make over 60 percent of India’s population living in rural areas a part of our growth story. Real solutions for the country’s problems should come from Tier II and III cities.”

The Deshpande Foundation has established the Sandbox Startups incubation centre in Hubballi. Over the last eight years, Sandbox Startups has supported over 80 ventures with sustainable, scalable and resilient business models and created wealth of over Rs 70 crore in the local economy. The companies span across areas like technology, image processing, agricultural technology, Internet of Things, logistics, ecommerce, healthcare and service sectors.

A dedicated team of 'Sandbox Samvidha' will support not-for profit ventures and high social impact startups, the release said. This incubator leverages 10+-year-old ecosystem set up by the Deshpande Social Innovation Sandbox to provide mentoring and support to validate market, networking, industry connect, access to funding and the workforce to build new companies.