Platform for helping startups launched

T-Hub partners with Anthill to launch MERGE, a corporate innovation platform

Former Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth shaking hands with T-Hub founder Srinivas Kollipara during the MERGE - Experience Innovation at T-Hub in Hyderabad.Photo: K.V.S. Giri

The T-Hub, the Telangana Government’s public private partnership startup engine, has announced the launch of MERGE, a corporate innovation platform.

Launched in association with Anthill, a speed scaling platform for early stage startups, the new platform aims at accelerating innovation and create adaptable enterprises by forging the combined advantages of the agility embodied in startups and scalability offered by corporates. The launch of MERGE brings together marquee national and international startups, global investors and leading corporates like PwC, Samsung, CapGemini, Qualcomm and NVIDIA.

Innovation lifecycle

As part of launch of the new platform on Thursday, the participants were given insights into corporate innovation lifecycle, including identification of areas of disruption, selecting startups aligned to innovation focus areas, evaluating products, finalising the business models and scaling them up through increasing market share.

T-Hub CEO Jay Krishnan said the collaborative platform was launched to create structured and curated new avenues of growth for corporates and to foster scalability of entrepreneurial ventures.

Anthill founder and CEO Prasad Vanga said studies revealed that corporates invested $ 625 billion in 6,000 startups from 2012-16 reinstating the fact that corporate innovation was growing at a fast pace.

The agility of startups when put together with the scalability factor of corporates would result in success for both and at the same time, bring about innovative solutions that would change the game of the startup ecosystem.