T-Hub Launches Flashpoint Venture Studio, Opens Agri-Tech and Space-Tech Tracks for Founders
Hyderabad, Sept 30 (TNT) : Hyderabad based T-Hub on Wednesday announced it has launched Flashpoint, a venture studio that partners with founders and industry players to build startups around industry-validated problems, with applications now open for its inaugural agri-tech and space-tech tracks.
Under the initiative, T-Hub and its industry partners will identify specific challenges and select entrepreneurs to develop startups addressing them.
Selected founders will receive operator-led mentorship, access to infrastructure, laboratories, testbeds and established supply chains, as well as support from T-Hub’s investor, mentor and resource partner network. Founders will retain 100 per cent ownership of their ventures without equity dilution.
In a release, T-Hub, which has supported more than 3,300 startups, said Flashpoint was designed to address early-stage challenges faced by entrepreneurs, including identifying viable problems, accessing industry expertise and validating market demand before launching a venture.
The programme will initially focus on agri-tech and space-tech, in partnership with Kheyti, an Earthshot Prize-winning agri-tech company working on climate-resilient farming solutions, and Dhruva Space, a space infrastructure provider offering satellite systems, mission-critical subsystems, launch facilitation, ground segment solutions and capacity-building services.
Under the agri-tech track, selected founders will join Kheyti as Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and receive a monthly stipend of Rs. 1 lakh, sponsored pilot projects and direct access to 8,000 greenhouse farmers from the first week.
The space-tech track will provide founders with access to Dhruva Space’s engineering infrastructure, including cleanrooms, thermal-vacuum and vibration testing facilities, and ground stations, enabling them to develop, test and validate their technologies from the outset.
Applications are open for both tracks through T-Hub’s website.
The venture studio has also invited industry partners and operators to collaborate on launching additional tracks across sectors.
Kavikrut, CEO of T-Hub, said Flashpoint would provide founders with industry-validated problems, experienced operators and access to the organisation’s resources and network, helping aspiring entrepreneurs translate their ideas into viable businesses.
Kaushik Kappagantulu, co-founder and CEO of Kheyti, said the partnership marked a return to T-Hub, where the company began its journey in 2015 as one of the first teams to receive space at the campus at IIIT Hyderabad.
He said Kheyti would support the next generation of agri-tech entrepreneurs while advancing its vision of helping smallholder farmers in India adopt climate-smart farming practices.
Sanjay Nekkanti, co-founder and CEO of Dhruva Space, said India’s expanding space sector would create opportunities for indigenous technologies across satellites, launch systems, components, subsystems, software, data and services.
He noted that emerging initiatives, including the planned Bharatiya Antariksh Space Station, could open up opportunities for companies developing technologies for in-orbit operations, servicing, research and other applications.
Through Flashpoint, Dhruva Space aims to help founders access the infrastructure, expertise and real-world environments needed to develop and scale their technologies for domestic and global markets.
Flashpoint builds on T-Hub’s recent launch of Blueprint, a 12-month fellowship programme under which T-Hub works as a generalist chief experience officer (CXO) for deep-tech startups, helping them progress from early traction to scale.
While Blueprint focuses on supporting startups at the growth stage, Flashpoint extends T-Hub’s venture-building approach to the earliest stages of entrepreneurship, even before a company is formally established.
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