After setting up the largest academic incubator in the country to support start-ups, IIIT-Hyderabad will now focus on mentoring the niche early-stage companies specialising in deeper technologies. The accelerator programme called ‘Avishkar’ was launched on Friday in partnership with T-Hub, 50k Ventures and Co-creation Consulting. As part of the programme, 10 start-ups working on machine learning, augmented reality, voice recognition technologies as well as natural language processing will be short-listed for a six-month programme in the first year. With a seed fund of Rs. 10 lakh, each start-up will be mentored by IIIT-Hyderabad Foundation Members and its network through a structured programme.
Vasudeva Varma, CEO, IIIT-H Foundation, said that the programme was a unique one with personalised curriculum for each company so that they show results. He said that Hyderabad has tremendous strength in the field of deeper technologies. He hoped that at least 50 per cent of the companies would be successful in raising good amount of funding in their next round at the end of the programme.
Ramesh Loganathan, Board Member, IIIT-H Foundation said there were very few accelerator programmes for deeper technologies in the country and felt that this initiative was in sync with what IIIT-Hyderabad has been doing. Srinivas Kollipara, COO of T-Hub, said that the concentration was more on solving shallow problems and there was a need to look out for solutions for deeper problems.
