T startups look to new Cong govt’s mentoring

Hyderabad: So far, the collective effort of all the stakeholders in the startup space pushed Hyderabad to rank fifth on the best startup ecosystem index in India. As per the data available on the State’s official portal ‘Startup Telangana,’ more than 6,600 registered startups are operating in the State. Now, with the Congress government led by A Revanth Reddy as the Chief Minister in power now, these 6,000 odd startups are looking forward to growing on the back of a system free of challenges of bureaucracy and prejudice. Furthermore, there is a need to instill the sentiment of Made in Telangana for competitive growth, say startup promoters in Hyderabad.

Fundamental expectation of startups in the State to boost the culture of innovation boils down to People-Capital-Market-Connect and integrated development of the ecosystem.

“Our expectation would be to have an ecosystem that can be the sounding board one along with nurturing systems (people-capital-market-connect). To make this possible, the leaders from the government side should be free from prejudices, bureaucracy challenges. Another challenge to be addressed is integrated development of the startup ecosystem as well as connecting the corporate sector,” Dr Narasimha Reddy, founder, Roligt Foods Pvt Ltd, told Bizz Buzz.

On the same lines, Paresh Masade, founder and CEO, Vaave, expressed the need for an open channel to reach out to the State government. He said, “we have our presence across Telangana. But it would have been great if the initial push had come from the government by their department adopting and promoting our platform. I feel that this would have been possible if there was a channel to access the concerned government department.”

According to Masade there are many good startups operating here whose services can be promoted by the State government. “The government can provide a proactive platform wherein the founders can pitch their business. If not for anything else, at least encouragement will help,” he added.

Adding on to the primary concern Capital-Market-Connect, the startup founders call for boosting the investment sentiment here. Vijayadurga, Managing Director of Architude, said: “At present, Hyderabad is not a good option to find investors when compared to Bengaluru, Mumbai. Though access to investors these days has gone online, it would not harm if the government sets up a funding desk. This could act as a one-stop where startups can reach out to all the banks and private lenders.”

While for Masade, access to market opening tops the list to facilitate the ecosystem’s growth.

Alongside, the capital and market connect, early-stage startup founders also stressed on bringing in more cost-effective and sector specific spaces run by experienced professionals.

“The new government can build on the current infrastructure available. However, providing a shared services platform free of cost for a startup in its initial first year of growth stage will be of significant support. Moreover, we prefer knowledgeable and experienced people guiding startups at these incubation centres,” Vijayadurga said. For the founder of Starbuzz.ai, K Priya Akella the demand is for developing more sector-specific incubation centres.

The new government’s key role would be to reflect on the successes and pit falls so as to enhance the positive support and curb the ones that did not yield meaningful results. “Hyderabad’s startup ecosystem was in the right direction from the collective efforts of previous government. However, going ahead, I would suggest startup domain selection by looking into the growth of entities and innovation in fields uncharted, rather than ‘Me Too’ startups, will yield more value in the mid and long-term,” said Dr Reddy.

Founders like Vijayadurga are calling for elevating Telangana’s image and of the startups based here on all national and international platforms to not only promote the ecosystem and the startup, but also to send the message across that the State has a strong tech and business presence.