Tide and WE Hub Launch ‘Sarthika’ to Operationalise Government Schemes for Women MSMEs

Aims to bridge the information and last mile delivery gap in public schemes and initiatives

Targets ease of doing business for 500,000 women entrepreneurs across India by 2027

Tide, the UK’s leading SME-focused business financial platform, that recently launched in India, and WE Hub, Telangana’s state-led incubator for women entrepreneurs have launched the ‘Sarthika’ programme, to bridge the information and last mile delivery gaps in state and central government schemes for women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Through this initiative, Tide aims to reach women entrepreneurs across India and enhance the ease of doing business by improving access to information and uptake of public schemes and initiatives.

The Sarthika web portal (https://www.tide.co/en-in/wehub-tide/) will work with the cohort at the grassroots level to help them navigate through the application process, eligibility criteria, and other important aspects of the schemes. After the completion of full KYC process, Tide India and WE Hub will work with relevant government departments to quicken operationalisation of the schemes.

The programme’s first phase consists of three schemes

1. Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP): The scheme focuses on credit subsidy for self-employment.
2. Raw Material Assistance Scheme: This scheme offers access to higher quality raw materials.
3. Barcode Registration Subsidy: This scheme enables businesses to conform to global standards of trade and commerce.

The Government of India has rolled out a series of measures to boost growth and opportunities for women in business. However, lack of information about eligibility and availability of schemes, poor allocation of resources, and complex processes have led to weak demand from the people these schemes could best serve.

The Sarthika programme comes at a time when W20, under India’s G20 presidency, is focused on realising the vision of women-led development, with women as active change agents of India’s growth story rather than passive recipients of development. The W20 is an official G20 engagement group focused on gender equity.

WE Hub CEO, Deepthi Ravula said, “Enabling access and opportunity for women to partake in the economic workforce of the nation is of pivotal importance to the growth of the nation. While there have been efforts to ease this process, awareness and handholding support is often amiss. In our collaboration with Tide, we are looking at addressing this problem statement and are positive that this will lead to a monumental change!”

This move also elevates Tide’s India Chapter of ‘Women in Business’ and the company’s plan to work as an incubator to digitally transform women-led SMEs beyond Tier 2 and 3 regions of India.

Kumar Shekhar, Deputy Country Manager, Tide India said, “As India presides over G20, there is an increased need to focus on the inclusion of women in finance and creating an enabling and non-discriminatory ecosystem. Last mile delivery of schemes and incentives is a common challenge faced by governments across the globe. While there is no magic bullet to bridge this gap, we are proud to launch a programme that will not just remove barriers to women-led development but help them realise their full potential.”

Earlier this year, Tide also conducted a mentorship programme for women entrepreneurs to decode the Union Budget 2023 and help them understand how new government policies, tax laws, and funding opportunities may affect their businesses.

About Tide:

Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017, London-based Tide is now the leading business financial platform in the UK. Tide helps SMEs save time (and money) in the running of their businesses by not only offering business accounts and related banking services, but also a comprehensive set of highly usable administrative and connected solutions. Tide has nearly 500,000 SME members in the UK (around 9% market share) and has recently launched in India.

Tide has been funded by Apax Digital, Anthemis, Augmentum, Creandum, Goodwater, Jigsaw, Latitude, LocalGlobe, Passion Capital, SpeedInvest, SBI Group and Tencent, amongst others. It employs 1250 professionals worldwide, was awarded the ‘New Market Entrant of the Year’ at the UK-India Awards 2022 and is among the Sunday Times Fast Track Disruptors to Watch. Tide has a long-term ambition to be the leading business financial platform globally.

Tide selected India as its first international market in 2020. With over 500 highly skilled employees in India, most based in its Hyderabad technology centre, Tide has launched two business financial solutions for SMEs in India – a Business Account and a RuPay-powered Expense Card and is working to introduce a host of other features to the Tide app in the next few months.

https://www.tide.co/en-in/

WE HUB is the first-of-its-kind and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs by the Government of Telangana. WE HUB supports women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, solutions, and entities focusing on emerging areas in technology and allied sectors. WE HUB also supports under-explored/unexplored sectors, such as FMCG, retail, and e-commerce, including the service sector. The mandate and goal of WE HUB are to eliminate financial and societal barriers for women and help them succeed in their enterprises. WE HUB aims to create a supportive community for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs where they can interact with VCs for funding, connect with corporates for scaling up their business, get advice from mentors to fine-tune ideas; and benefit from technical mentoring.

http://wehub.telangana.gov.in/

WE HUB Celebrates Five Years of Driving Women Entrepreneurship in India and Inspiring Innovation punny

WE HUB, India's first and only state-led incubator by the Government of Telangana, celebrated its fifth anniversary on International Women's Day. The event was held at Taj Krishna and featured notable speakers, such as Telangana state’s Information Technology (IT) Minister, K. T. Rama Rao; Principal Secretary to the Government of Telangana, IT E & C department, Jayesh Ranjan; and other dignitaries. The celebration recognised the achievements of women entrepreneurs and honoured their contributions to the economy.

WE HUB has been a beacon of hope for women entrepreneurs in India over the past five years, providing them with the resources and support they need to succeed in the business world. The event kicked off with a welcome address and a video presentation by WE HUB showcasing the projects, initiatives and programmes that have helped women entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial journey. It was followed by five successful women entrepreneurs sharing their inspiring stories of overcoming challenges and achieving success in their respective fields.

Minister K. T. Rama Rao, said, We are on a mission to make Telangana a women's entrepreneur hub, and the WE Hub has played a significant role in engaging with over 35,000 women entrepreneurs across India. The upcoming launch of a single window mechanism and targeted interventions will provide a professional identity for women entrepreneurs and enable them to scale their businesses, creating more employment opportunities in Tier 2 and 3 cities.

The event also included an interactive session with the women entrepreneurs and the audience, where IT Minister, K.T. Rama Rao, engaged in a Q&A session with them. Mr Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Information Technology (IT), emphasised the importance of women's participation in entrepreneurship and applauded WE HUB's role in promoting women entrepreneurship.

Over the past five years, WE HUB has incubated 3194 start-ups and SMEs by women founders and successfully engaged with over 5,000 women entrepreneurs, 1247 students, 986 social impact entrepreneurs and 609 urban entrepreneurs. The incubator has been actively working towards enabling women-led start-ups across sectors scale and accelerate through global market access.

The CEO of WE HUB, Deepthi Ravula, said, "At WE Hub, we believe that women entrepreneurs are a force to be recognised. Our mission is to provide them with the resources and support they need to succeed, regardless of their background or circumstances. Through our work, we have seen first-hand the incredible impact that women can have on their communities and the economy. I am proud to lead an organisation that is dedicated to empowering women and fostering innovation in India. Together, we can create a more equitable and prosperous future for all."

About WE HUB:

WE HUB is the first-of-its-kind and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs by the Government of Telangana. WE HUB supports women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, solutions and entities focusing on emerging areas in technology and allied sectors. WE HUB also supports under-explored/unexplored sectors, such as FMCG, retail and e-commerce, including the service sector. The mandate and goal of WE HUB are to eliminate financial and societal barriers for women and help them succeed in their enterprises. WE HUB aims to create a supportive community for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs where they can interact with venture capitalists for funding, connect with corporates for scaling up their business, get advice from mentors to fine-tune ideas and benefit from technical mentoring.

Women Entrepreneurs Platform WE HUB Held Workshop for 85 Differently Abled Women To Spark Thoughts On World Disability Day

Differently abled Women were under four categories (locomotor disability, hearing impairment, dwarfism, and visually impaired) from the Network of Persons with Disabilities (NPD), Hyderabad, who visited WE Hub for an exposure visit on women entrepreneurship and guidance on business interventions.

WE Hub CEO, Ms. Deepthi Ravula, interacted with the group and spoke about WE Hub programs for women entrepreneurs.

WE Hub organised the event in coordination with NPD Founder Mr. M. Srinavasulu and Secretary Ms Koppula Vasundhara.

WE HUB, Government of Telangana’s first and only state-led incubator to foster and promote women entrepreneurship, facilitated an exposure visit to 85 Women with Disabilities on account of World Disability Day. WE HUB designed the workshop to help initiate thought processes on women entrepreneurship. The women were encouraged to share any ideas they had that they might later develop into profitable business ventures at the end of the session.

The women also interacted with student innovators from WE Hub’s in-house program WE Alpha and other students of B. Vissam Raju Institute of Information and Technology Hyderabad (BVRITH), who showcased their prototypes on assistive technology. The prototypes included ST-AN-DE (Stress, Anxiety, Depression), Learning Videos, an Automatic Ventilator, Walk-Mate, Touch Me Not, Move Trash, Smart Stick, and Smart Shoe.

In her interaction with the women, Deepthi Ravula, CEO of WE HUB, said, “In the four years of WE Hub’s work, we have noticed that the number of women entering into technological entrepreneurship is minimal. This has prompted us to plan for a mechanism that addresses the critical need for women to develop their skills and mindsets, thereby creating a way to ensure gender parity. Entrepreneurship for persons with disabilities effectively reduces their unemployment rates and increases their competencies and social inclusion. Moreover, entrepreneurship is an effective way to introduce people with disabilities to self-employment opportunities so they can become self-sufficient and independent.

We look forward to nurturing confidence and competence in this specific sector and developing capabilities such as problem-solving, creativity and social skills amongst the selected.”

Over the past four years, WE-HUB has been actively working towards enabling Women-led start-ups across sectors to scale and accelerate through global market access. Till now, WE-HUB has incubated 238 technology-enabled start-ups by Women founders.

About WE HUB:

WE HUB is the first-of-its-kind and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs by the Government of Telangana. WE HUB supports women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, solutions, and entities focusing on emerging areas in technology and allied sectors. WE HUB also supports under-explored/unexplored sectors, such as FMCG, retail, and e-commerce, including the service sector. The mandate and goal of WE HUB are to eliminate financial and societal barriers for women and help them succeed in their enterprises. WE HUB aims to create a supportive community for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs where they can interact with VCs for funding, connect with corporates for scaling up their business, get advice from mentors to fine-tune ideas; and benefit from technical mentoring.

WE-HUB & Truecaller Sign a MoU to Accelerate Women Entrepreneurship in Telangana

Pragya Misra, Director, Public Affairs at Truecaller & Deepthi Ravula, CEO, WE-Hub, Government of Telangana signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to accelerate women’s entrepreneurship in Telangana in the presence

• The collaborative partnership aims to equip women entrepreneurs with the requisite tools to scale their businesses
• WE-HUB and Truecaller will extend mentorship and necessary leadership support to women-led start-ups

Truecaller, a leading global communications platform and WE HUB, Government of Telangana’s first and only state-led incubator to foster and promote women entrepreneurship, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote women-led start-ups across Telangana. This is another step by Truecaller to increase participation of women entrepreneurs in the digital space. The MoU was signed between Ms Deepthi Ravula, CEO of WE HUB & Ms Pragya Misra, Director of Public Affairs at Truecaller, in the presence of Mr Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary to the Government of Telangana, IT E&C department.

Truecaller will extend its Software Development Kit (SDK) to start-ups to improve their user funnel and drive growth with mobile number verification. The SDK is designed to help developers build world-class verification infrastructure at lightning speed and has helped multiple organizations drive and scale their businesses. In addition, Truecaller will provide advertisement credits worth 25,000 USD to promote visibility and scale for upcoming start-ups, their products and services. Encouraging problem-solving and innovation, WE-Hub & Truecaller will host hackathons on mutually identified problem statements, with rewards and prizes sponsored by Truecaller to incentivise wider participation. Further, leaders of the organizations will extend mentorship and necessary support as requested by women entrepreneurs and startups in the state.

Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary of Commerce & Industries, Information Technology Departments, Government of Telangana, who graced the occasion with his presence, commented, “The Government of Telangana has always supported collaboration between entities and believes in the potential and impact of supporting start-ups in the state. The partnership between WE-HUB and Truecaller will reinforce our commitment to this booming sector and give women founders and teams dedicated support in their entrepreneurial journey.”

Talking about the initiative, Ms Pragya Misra, Director of Public Affairs at Truecaller, said, “We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with WE-HUB and contribute to Telangana’s diverse, vibrant and collaborative start-up ecosystem. As a platform, we are constantly evolving and making efforts to learn, build and give back to the community. We are confident that the entire start-up community will benefit from the smooth onboarding through SDK and increasing discovery of these businesses by advertising on Truecaller. This is another step in our mission to make communication safe and efficient. ”

Commenting on the development, Ms Deepthi Ravula, CEO of WE HUB, said, “We are glad to collaborate with Truecaller to support women-led start-ups with avenues to scale up using innovative platforms. This will not only enable them to go on and spearhead innovation in the country, but will also support them with a suite of benefits like growth, visibility of their products, and networking opportunities with customers. This partnership marks another milestone for WE Hub - aligning perfectly with our vision of accelerating women entrepreneurship across India.”

Over the past four years, WE HUB has been actively working towards enabling women-led start-ups across sectors to scale and accelerate through global market access. To date, WE-HUB has incubated 238 technology-enabled start-ups by Women founders.

WE HUB is the first-of-its-kind and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs by the Government of Telangana. WE HUB supports women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, solutions, and entities focusing on emerging areas in technology and allied sectors. WE HUB also supports under-explored/unexplored sectors, such as FMCG, retail, and e-commerce, including the service sector. The mandate and goal of WE HUB are to eliminate financial and societal barriers for women and help them succeed in their enterprises. WE HUB aims to create a supportive community for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs where they can interact with VCs for funding, connect with corporates for scaling up their businesses, get advice from mentors to fine-tune ideas; and benefit from technical mentoring.

About Truecaller: We enable safe and relevant conversations between people and make it efficient for businesses to connect with consumers. Fraud and unwanted communication are endemic to digital economies, especially in emerging markets. We are on a mission to build trust in communication. Truecaller is an essential part of everyday communication for over 320 million active users, with half a billion downloads since launch and close to 38 billion unwanted calls identified and blocked in 2021. Headquartered in Stockholm, since 2009, we are a co-founder-led, entrepreneurial company, with a highly experienced management team. Truecaller has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since Oct 8th 2021. For more information, please visit corporate.truecaller.com

For more information, please contact: press@truecaller.com

WE HUB Graduates the 1st Cohort of Students Innovators through its WE Alpha Program

Twelve student-led teams moved from the idea stage to creating prototypes in the fields of Agriculture & Sustainability, EV & Automation and Deep-Tech. They will be supported in registering as DPIIT Recognized startups.

WE HUB start-ups provided internship opportunities to selected participants to enable them to get a feel of entrepreneurship.

WE HUB, India’s first and only state-led incubator by the Government of Telangana to foster and promote women entrepreneurship to start-up, scale-up and accelerate with global market access graduated announced the graduation of its first cohort of students who moved from idea/innovator to entrepreneurs. The student entrepreneurship program christened “WE Alpha” takes college students through creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, which are key pillars of the National Education Policy (NEP2020). The program focused on a curated curriculum & hands on learning to impart creative & critical thinking approaches towards Innovation & Entrepreneurship. The high-quality program selected 12 student teams across six colleges from Telangana.

The first cohort for WE ALPHA included students from engineering and humanities colleges. The program kicked off with Training of the Faculty, from the selected colleges to hone their skills for creating effective outcome driven Incubation programs, Entrepreneurship training spaces for students as part of the New Education Policy. These selected student teams were taken through an in-person eight-week program, encompassing the ideation, technical mentoring, design knowledge, business skills, interpersonal skills, team building skills and communication skills. They also had an opportunity to pitch for internships with WE HUB-incubated startups to enable students to progress in their journey as entrepreneurs. 

The program culminated with 12 teams developing prototypes. The teams will be supported by WE HUB to register with DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) as startup companies.

Mr Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary to the Government of Telangana (IT E&C) said “One of the key focus areas for us in the Government of Telangana is to ensure that we can spur innovative & entrepreneurial thinking in students including from schools across Telangana. Inculcating innovative thinking at the student stage will spur the innovation mindset throughout their career and ensure the participation of Girls and young women in the Economy of Telangana. Students are and will continue to be an important pillar in transforming the economy of Telangana to Quaternary sectors, where innovation is the backbone. We would like to encourage all the colleges across Telangana to engage with the Telangana innovation ecosystem through programs like WE Alpha. Congratulations to the 12 student’s teams and we are looking forward to supporting them as they scale further in their journey”

Ms Deepthi Ravula, CEO, WE HUB said, “Over the past 4 years of the inception of WEHUB, we have been working on enabling a funnel where we can have more Women enter the fields of Innovation & Entrepreneurship. WE HUB has created WE Alpha with a focus on students not only learns about Entrepreneurship but also how to learn, Emphasis of the curriculum design of WELPHA was to enable students to think critically and solve problems, be creative and multidisciplinary, and to innovate, adapt, and absorb new material in the novel and changing fields. We are glad that the 12 ideas that have been selected are all on their path to the next stage of their innovation journey which is Entrepreneurship & registered startups.

Applications for the next cohort of WE Alpha are now open, and colleges and students are invited to apply by reaching out to us on info-wehub@telangana.gov.in

The deadline for the same is 15 August 2022.

About WE HUB:

WE HUB is the first-of-its-kind and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs by the Government of Telangana. WE HUB supports women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, solutions and entities focusing on emerging areas in technology and allied sectors. WE HUB also supports under-explored/unexplored sectors, such as FMCG, retail and e-commerce, including the service sector. The mandate and goal of WE HUB are to eliminate financial and societal barriers for women and help them succeed in their enterprises. 

WE HUB aims to create a supportive community for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs where they can interact with venture capitalists for funding, connect with corporates for scaling their business, get advice from mentors to fine-tune ideas and benefit from technical mentoring.

WE-HUB and Australian High Commission Graduates 11 Start-ups under its Upsurge Program

The program witnessed 70 eligible applications from 3 states and 9 sectors.

The graduating start-ups were Zero Waste Store, Solutions for Online Learning, Logistics App, Apic Book, Sri Raghavendra Granites, among others.

WE HUB, India’s first and only state-led incubator by the Government of Telangana to foster and promote women entrepreneurship and ensure that start-ups scale and accelerate in their entrepreneurial journey. With an aim to support aspiring entrepreneurs in Telangana to innovate with technology, a program in collaboration with the Australian Consulate General “Upsurge”, which ensures potential women entrepreneurs are given the needed guidance to conceptualize their ideas towards prototype creation was started.

 
In the second cohort of Upsurge program, 11 startups were graduated. The entrepreneurs underwent the required technical and mentoring support for assessing the feasibility and potential viability of the ideas. The 2nd cohort of the program witnessed 70 eligible applications, out of which 23 women entrepreneurs were shortlisted, from across 9 sectors and 3 states. The graduating start-ups of the cohort were Zero Waste Store, Solutions for Online Learning, Logistics App, Apic Book, Sri Raghavendra Granites, Reze, JaldiDesi, C&S Technologies, PALL Healthcare, Khansland, Akunera Foods. The 3-month long program saw a total of 70% of the entrepreneurs from the cohort creating viable prototypes and 80% developing actionable business plans.

Ms. Sara Kirlew, Consul-General for South India, Australian Consulate General, Chennai said “Highly impressed with the ideas of women entrepreneurs and happy to support more women entrepreneurs through the Direct Aid Program”.

Ms. Deepthi Ravula, CEO-WE HUB remarked, “We are happy to collaborate with the Australian Consulate to ensure that women have an opportunity to enter the economic workforce through programs such as Upsurge. Going forward, we will support this cohort of women as part of WE HUB's flagship incubation program to ensure that the entrepreneurs move from a prototype to MVP stage.”. She also announced that the applications for the 3rd cohort of Upsurge program are live and those who are interested to take part in this, can apply before 30th Jul’2022.

WE HUB is the first-of-its-kind and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs by the Government of Telangana. WE HUB supports women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, solutions and entities focusing on emerging areas in technology and allied sectors. WE HUB also supports entrepreneurs in under-explored/unexplored sectors, such as FMCG, retail, e-commerce, including the service sector.

The mandate and goal of WE HUB is to eliminate financial and societal barriers for women and help them succeed in their enterprises by creating a supportive community for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs.

The Australian Consulate-General, Chennai, is responsible for Australia’s Interests in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and the Union Territories of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Puducherry.

The first WE-Hub Australia partnership, ‘Community Slate’ ($60,000), was designed as a mentoring program to support five women-led social enterprises to navigate these difficulties and scale up their ideas. ‘UPsurge’ (roughly $24,000), focuses on pre-incubation for a larger cohort of women entrepreneurs, filtering their ideas for market viability.

WE HUB Organised One of a Kind 'Girls in STEAM' Conference to Mark International Women’s Day

From discussing gender gap in STEAM fields to celebrating the women entrepreneurs from the state, the event was focussed on breaking the Bias

The event had eminent speakers such as Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, Ms. Deepthi Ravula, Mr. Andrew Fleming, Ms. Katherine Von Ofenheim amongst others sharing thought-provoking insights.

WE HUB, India’s first and only state-led incubator by the Government of Telangana to foster and promote women entrepreneurship to start-up, scale-up and accelerate with global market access, today organised an exclusive one-of-its kind ‘Girls in STEAM’ Conference to mark the International Women’s Day. Aimed at recognizing undulating spirit of Girls in STEAM, the event emphasized accomplishment of the 'Data Science for students' program and provided a platform to the inspiring women leaders, women entrepreneurs, corporate and government representatives to share their remarkable stories.

The event brought together eminent dignitaries such as Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, IAS Principal Secretary, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana, Ms. Deepthi Ravula, CEO, WE HUB, Mr. Andrew Fleming, UK Consulate General, Ms. Katherine Von Ofenheim, US, Vice Consulate, Mr. Malcolm, head of School, Srinidhi international School, Ms. Srilakshmi, Keystone (Robotics) amongst others. The event took off with a welcome address and a presentation by seven groups on topic such as Decent work and Economic Growth, Inequalities in the Workspace, Girls Education in Rural India, Visual Impairment etc.

 
Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary ITE&C Department, Telangana, said,” WE HUB has been instrumental in transforming ideas into fruition and inspiring women across Telangana and India since the past 4 years. The first of its kind Girls in STEAM program in association with WiDS, Stanford University and MathWorks is a pillar in the Student Entrepreneurs vertical of WE HUB. It is delightful to see various students from the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Telangana, congregating to create solutions for creating a positive impact in the society, and paving paths to a brighter future.”

Speaking on the occasion, Deepthi Ravula, CEO of WE HUB said,” Women are the foundation of development. At WE HUB we firmly believe that women make significant contributions to the workplace, to society, community, and family. We see the Girls in STEAM as a key step er program in that direction. This pilot was with 6 international schools to ensure that we create a best practise model which can be scaled slowly but surely to more than 100 schools by next year and collaborate with more corporate partners, industries.”

The audience of the event was 150 which comprised of 75 Girl Students from the program, representatives from 4 schools (Keystone, Chirec, Oakridge, Srinidhi) and Corporates such as Mathworks, Boston Dynamics, Qualcomm, S&P & Wells Fargo. Aiming to encourage more girls to pursue STEAM courses, Hon. Mr. Andrew Fleming, UK Consulate General presented the global view of Girls in STEAM during the event. Further, the program winners were facilitated by Hon. Ms. Katherine von Ofenheim, US Consulate General.

The 'Data Science for students' program was launched in Telangana in June 2021. Through its 'Data Science for students' program, WE HUB has trained 75 girl students across 3 states in India to actively think about solutions to real-world problems which can create an impact on the environment and society. Girls were trained to apply principles of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence to solve India-specific problems. Further, the program was concluded by organising the 'Girls in STEAM' Conference.

WE HUB also announced its collaboration with MathWorks during the event which was forged in the presence of Mr. Sanjay Gopinath, Marketing lead, MathWorks India. This collaboration will help young minds understand data handling in a lucid manner and be adept to the future of data science.

Since past 4 years, WE HUB has been actively working towards enabling Women led start-ups across sectors scale & accelerate through global market access. Till now, WE HUB has incubated 238 technology enabled start-ups by Women founders.

About WE HUB:

WE HUB is the first-of-its-kind and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs by the Government of Telangana. WE HUB supports women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, solutions and entities focusing on emerging areas in technology and allied sectors. WE HUB also supports under-explored/unexplored sectors, such as FMCG, retail, e-commerce, including the service sector. The mandate and goal of WE HUB are to eliminate financial and societal barriers for women and help them succeed in their enterprises. WE HUB aims to create a supportive community for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs where they can interact with VCs for funding, connect with corporates for scaling up their business, get advice from mentors to fine-tune ideas and benefit from technical mentoring.

WE HUB Selects 26 Women-led Urban Tech Startups for the 3rd Cohort of its Incubation Program

• The selected start-ups offer innovative solutions in key industries, such as SaaS, Healthtech, ConsumerTech, DeepTech, EdTech, FMCG and the sustainable sector.
• This nine-month program is designed to provide entrepreneurs with a need-based intervention model. It is focused on helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses.
• The program had a successful previous cohort, with 24 start-ups, which graduated in 2021.

WE HUB, India’s first state-led incubator to foster and promote women entrepreneurship to start up, scale up and accelerate with global market access, today announced the launch of the third edition of its flagship incubation program. This edition will consist of 26 selected women-led urban tech start-ups that provide solutions for industries, such as SaaS, Healthtech, ConsumerTech, DeepTech, EdTech, FMCG and the sustainable sector.

The start-ups will receive mentorship from leading industry experts on business growth metrics, such as revenue building, customer acquisition, sustainability, market expansion and product development roadmap, access to funds, cross border market connects and access to government.

Close to 101 start-ups from across the country applied to participate in the program, which were evaluated by WE HUB, of them 90 per cent of the application had growth potential. The startups were given orientation on the program in detail and were further shortlisted through one-on-one interview sessions by leaders at WE HUB. The final list of start-ups for the cohort was selected based on the two-day pitching sessions to the jury of WE HUB partners including – Swissnex, IKP, Yashoda Hospitals, CCMB and SucSEED Partners.

Deepthi Ravula, CEO of WE HUB, said, "We are excited to launch our third Cohort which consists of 26 startups, from across India. Three years from its inception, WE Hub has reached a stage where every sector of startup incubated with us can be directed to a program which specifically tackles their need along with our partners. Programs like WE Trade, Launchpad, WE Corner launched by us in the previous year along with well-designed coincubation programs we are confident we have the best outcomes for the incubates at WE HUB."

Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary ITE&C Department, Telangana, said, “Congratulations to all the startups selected as part of the third Cohort of the Incubation Program by WE HUB. Year on Year, it is heartening to see the varied sectors from which we are seeing Women Entrepreneurs innovate, startup and create enterprises. We look forward to many of these startups becoming a huge part of the innovation ecosystem to drive growth of startups in Telangana and across the country.”

This nine-month program is designed with a targeted approach to provide entrepreneurs with a need-based intervention model to help them scale up. Start-ups from various cities in India – Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad – are part of the cohort. Some of the selected startups are Moxie and hopper, Bluebot Robotics, Ikshana, Lauriko, Kula Studio, Abby, Mindful Grubs, Forward Parcel, Haemac, Shu Shu babies, Sortizy, Yugiene, Pillplus, Level App, Backbenchers, Lori health, Kaqzu Bottles, Artfils, Hunar, Mera Bills, People of Prints, Akna Innovations, FittR Bites, Innogle, among others.

The selected start-ups will receive access to industrial visits and international market access support through WE HUB’s partnerships with various corporates and international organizations. Additionally, they will receive one-on-one interactions and need-based mentorship sessions, respectively. Based on factors like market competition, scale-up strategy, and product development plan, WE HUB will set goals for each start-up in the cohort and track the progress of the start-ups in addition to mentoring them.

The program had a successful previous cohort, with 24 start-ups graduated in July 2021. Most of the startups from the second cohort grew their revenue by 25 per cent, while WE HUB supported five start-ups to pivot their business model after the pandemic struck.

Shireen Sultana, Cofounder, KinderPass, a startup from the current (third) cohort said, “We are excited about working with WE HUB and looking forward to making KinderPass India's best digital child health and development platform. Over the last few days, the conversations we've had with the team at WE HUB have given us the confidence that they are not just collaborators but will be true partners in our endeavor to help parents across India.”

Mouna Gummadi, Cofounder of Hilo Design, a startup that was part of the previous (second) cohort, said, “Hilo Design is proud to be incubated at WE HUB. The program really helped us to take us to the next stage as a startup with not just the guidance but also providing the right opportunities and marketing connects assisting in growth.”

About WE HUB:

WE HUB is the first-of-its-kind and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs by the Government of Telangana. WE HUB supports women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, solutions and entities focusing on emerging areas in technology and allied sectors. WE HUB also supports under-explored/unexplored sectors, such as FMCG, retail, e-commerce, including the service sector. 

The mandate and goal of WE HUB are to eliminate financial and societal barriers for women and help them succeed in their enterprises. WE HUB aims to create a supportive community for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs where they can interact with VCs for funding, connect with corporates for scaling up their business, get advice from mentors to fine-tune ideas and benefit from technical mentoring.

Procter & Gamble to Identify and Collaborate with Telangana Startups, Partners WE Hub

Procter & Gamble (P&G) in partnership with WE Hub, the first-of-its-kind state-run platform for Women Entrepreneurs, recently concluded its first Telangana edition of vGROW Summit.

vGROW is P&G’s first-of-its-kind platform to identify and collaborate with businesses and individuals offering innovative industry-leading solutions. Three startups were selected to pilot innovative digitization and energy optimization solutions at P&G’s Hyderabad plant that manufactures Ariel®, Tide® and Pampers®. This partnership is in line with P&G’s commitment to invest in Indian startups and inclusive growth.

More than 55 startups, from across India, applied through WE Hub. The shortlisted applicants were then given an opportunity to pitch their innovative solutions at P&G’s vGROW Summit held at WE Hub office in Hyderabad. Out of these, three startups will now be piloting their solutions at P&G’s Hyderabad manufacturing plant.

[caption id="attachment_133011" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Leaders of selected start-ups with Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary[/caption]

Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary to IT E & C Department said, “It is encouraging to see organizations like P&G and initiatives like vGROW supporting the startups in the country. Partnerships like these will help create an ecosystem for inclusive growth.” 

Shivangi Jain, Associate Director – Purchasing and Supplier Partnerships, P&G India said, “As a company, innovation is an integral part of how we operate and provide superior propositions to our consumers. We firmly believe that when all stakeholders come together, it accelerates innovation that leads to inclusive growth. Our partnership with WE Hub is helping us connect and leverage external startup capabilities to strengthen our operations and drive inclusive growth in the state of Telangana. This partnership is part of P&G’s vGROW platform in line with the company’s commitment to invest and collaborate with startups, small businesses, and individuals offering innovative industry-leading solutions.”

Deepthi Ravula, CEO of WE Hub said, “P&G’s active participation to involve startups in their pursuit to drive automation in their manufacturing site sets a great precedent for involvement of Corporates in creating a conducive environment for startups. The success of the program was its structured approach, as all relevant stakeholders were well-prepped on working with startups, which helped the startups understand the problem statements better.”

The handpicked startups will now work in close collaboration with the P&G team to pilot their solutions at P&Gs Hyderabad plant.

Microsoft Partners with Telangana's Women Entrepreneurs Hub WE Hub

Tech giant Microsoft has announced a partnership with the Women Entrepreneurs Hub, an initiative of the Telangana government aimed at empowering
women entrepreneurs and technologists in the region.

According to a press release from Microsoft, the partnership would focus on designing and execution of learning activities and tools that would enable women to innovate and encourage girls to pursue a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

Together, they would also provide a platform for deeper and better networking opportunities for women in various technology fields.

The partnership would provide the WE Hub communities access to the state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure at Microsoft Garage, it said.

Director Garage India, Microsoft, Reena Dayal Yadav said "As our engagement with technology increases, we will require more talent with advanced skillsets that are very different from what exist now."

"Empowering women to actively be part of this transformation is integral to the skilling revolution taking root in India.

With the right technology infrastructure, institutional support, exposure and training, we can help them shape and build the India of tomorrow," she said. PTI GDK ROH

WE-Hub Incubated Product Research Startup Startoon Labs Raises First Round Equity Funding

Secunderabad, Telangana-based product research and development startup, Startoon Labs, has raised the first round of equity funding for its operations.

Startoon Labs designs and develops industrial-grade IoT products and smart electronics systems in the embedded systems and robotics fields. The startup was incubated at WE-Hub, a women-exclusive incubator led by Telangana state government, launched this year on Women`s Day.

Founders in 2017, by husband-wife duo - Mythreyi Kondapi and Susurla V.S. Suresh, Startoon Labs is essentially a private research laboratory that is into product Development, Teaching and Engineering consultation along with world class R&D services in the field of Electronics, Embedded systems, Automation and Robotics.

Mythreyi Kondapi is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, wihle her husband Susurla V S Suresh, is ab alumnus of Indian Institute of Management-Kolkata and Indian Institute of Technology-Madras in November 2017.



The startup will use the freshly raised funds to build Pheezee, a smart physiotherapy tool kit. The device is being designed to monitor and report patients’ rehabilitation and recovery by tracking their mobility and muscle strength.

With Pheezee, one can remotely perform the exercises and let his/her physiotherapist give suggestion over phone about the progress, making the patient's recovery process fast and easy.

Besides, the startup is also developing an open source, Arduino compatible IOT board called SLabs 32 that allows to develop prototypes in the fields of wireless data acquisition, data logging, visualization, remote monitoring/ control of machines with ease.

Startoon Labs is part of the first cohort of 26 women-led startups selected for incubation at WE Hub, a Government of Telangana initiative to promote and foster women’s entrepreneurship from all sectors including IoT, AR, VR, Edutech, Healthtech and FMCG.

“Hardware development is time consuming and capital intensive. Biomedical hardware is much more so, given the stringent compliance, clinical validation and trials required. Finding investors is always challenging,” Ms. Kondapi said, adding that they had found an investor who believed in the product and the team.

Stating that hardware is an integral part of any device or machine, Mr. Suresh said, “When we started off, a lot of software was being built indigenously but hardware was still at a nascent stage. Startoon Labs is building indigenous systems in the field of IoT and healthcare”. Assuring that WE Hub would enable market linkages for the commercial adoption of Startoon Labs’ physiotherapy device Pheezee, CEO of WE Hub Deepthi Ravula said: “The team at Startoon Labs represents inclusive workforce, progressive talent and innovative mindset that we are championing at WE Hub.”

“WE Hub has been working diligently in connecting women-led startups to financing and in catalysing their growth through strategic partnerships,” Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said.


Source - The Hindu

We Hub, A Women-Exclusive Startup Incubator To Be Launched on March 8

WE Hub, a startup incubator exclusively for women, announced by Telangana’s IT minister KT Rama Rao in December, will be officially launched on international Women’s Day on March 8.

Exclusively backed with Rs 15-crore fund from Atal Innovation Mission, WE Hub will be on the lines of Hyderabad's T-Hub, a one of the largest innovation hubs in the World. WE Hub will be a separate entity, independent of T-Hub, but will run on similar lines.

"The intention of launching WE Hub is to create an entity with government support, while supporting women entrepreneurs with funding and infrastructure," said Telangana IT Minister KT Ramarao.

The above development was first reported in The News Minute.

The Telangana govt had also announced a venture capital fund with a corpus of Rs 15 crore to fund women startups and enterprises. The investment, which will be handled by the industries and commerce department of the Telangana government, will be anywhere between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore in startups run by women. This will be done in partnership with T-Fund, which is the investment partner to T-Hub.

WE Hub will also receive support from NITI Aayog, which will partner with WE Hub through the central government’s Atal innovation Mission.

To recall, last year on Women's Day T-Hub launched Smart Women Angels Network (SWAN) by joining hands with Anthill, a Hyderabad-based speed scaling platform for early-growth stage startups, to support and encourage entrepreneurial spirit in women.

Last December, Rajasthan state government had also launched startup incubator for women in the state in addition to special fund announced for women-led startups.

Notably, Govt of India’s policy think tank NITI Aayog had too announced the launch of dedicated cell for women entrepreneurs in India.

Moreover, in last October Dr. Harshvardhan, Union Minister of Science and Technology inaugurated a first of its kind Women Bio-tech Incubator in Chennai.