Key Stakeholders Have Nurtured Hyderabad's Startup Ecosystem, Says This Angel Investor Viiveck Verma is member investor with Hyderabad Angels (HA) and IIT- Hyderabad Seed Fund
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In the IT war of South India, Telangana has been racing ahead by building on Hyderabad's existing IT ecosystem. With the top IT giants making their mark in the Pearl City, the start-up environment in Hyderabad has been growing at an unprecedented pace.
Recently hosted by the United States and the Indian government, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit was a testament to the city's thriving start-up culture and emerging opportunities in the city. The event acted as a confluence for not just the domestic stakeholders but also international players representing various industries.
Applauding the efforts of the State Government of Telangana and private players, Viiveck Verma, Angel Investor, IIIT- Hyderabad Seed Fund and Hyderabad Angels said that they all have come together to nurture local talent which will further improve the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Hyderabad. The Telangana State Government's T-Hub boasts of being the biggest incubator in the country with over 200 start-ups based out of the 75,000 sqft start-of-the-art facility within the International Institute of Information Technology's campus.
From HA's perspective, he said the organization roughly gets about 1,000 deals per month, out of which four-five start-ups get funded after due diligence.
Established in 2012, the network has invested INR 40 crores in 25 start-ups. It aims to invest in early-stage companies, not just in Hyderabad but across India and abroad in countries such as America, Singapore, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, etc.
Acknowledging that the real action in the start-up ecosystem lies in the seed-fund stage, Verma pointed out that the IIIT-H Seed Fund is committed to helping millennials with brilliant ideas, who are not just seeking for financial but also mentorship and market access.
The average ticket size of the fund is INR 5-25 lakhs and even though the fund is sector agnostic, it primarily looks at early-stage tech startups that are working on technologies like machine learning, computer vision, robotics, audio reality, virtual reality, natural language processing and artificial intelligence.
Verma claims that the IIIT seed-fund is the first of its kind in the world where an institute of higher learning has teamed up with private investors.
