Visakhapatnam: The AP government is taking initiatives and constructing infrastructure for the start-ups in a bid to promote an innovation culture among wannabe young entrepreneurs. However, the local start-ups have expressed their displeasure over the mentoring and exposure they have been provided with at the Sunr-ise Technology Resea-rch and Innovation Park on the Rushikonda IT SEZ.
Speaking to this newspaper, some of the Vizag-based start-ups said they were eyeing on T-Hub (the start-up incubator run by the Telangana state government) or move out to Bengaluru or other cities where they can get better exposure. Some local start-ups that were incubated in the government-run start-up incubator opined they could not get angel funding when their product was ready to be scaled up and enter the revenue generation mode. They said that T-Hub is connecting the start-ups to the investors and also conducting regular workshops unlike the AP start-up incubator in Vizag.
The confidence of the local start-up in T-Hub has grown strong as a team member of a startup entrepreneur from Vizag received funding in T-Hub for co-founding an online student magazine. “Things are at very early stage in the port city. In Hyderabad, especially T-Hub, there is a lot of action happening and mainly one can get the exposure that is missing here,” said the cofounder of the student magazine start-up.
Ravi Kumar, founder of a Vizag start-up bas-ed on a social networking site said T-Hub had offered his start-up to be incubated. “Today also I got an email from a T-Hub. The way they are encouraging start-ups is missing here in Vizag incubator, he added. When contacted, Vijay Bawra, project manager for AP and Telangana Nasscom 10K start-up which is managing the Vizag start-up incubator after Start-up Village (Kochi) moved out, said, “I cannot deny that start-ups in Vizag lack exposure as things are at early stage here. However, the investors would always put their money in a good start-up rather going by the geographic location.”
“Start-ups need right mentoring and be connected to the investors. As they are unable to get that here, they want to move out. Besides, the start-ups need to be nurtured for more time, not as the six month time-frame now being given to start-ups by Nasscom. Besides, the Nasscom should not operate remotely from Hyderabad so that the start-ups will feel disconnected,” said Vasudeva Thumati, founder of a private start-up Moksha incubator, which offer incubation facilities to start-ups, mentoring and investor connect.
