T-FUND PLANS REMAIN ONLY ON PAPER

While funding remains a major problem for startups, the Telangana Innovation Fund, to support ideas with massive impact, remains on paper for the past one year. As per the State Innovation Policy, the government was supposed to expedite the launch of its early-stage investment vehicle TFund, which is a master fund of `2,000 crore. This fund was supposed to be launched in concert with leading global investors and in collaboration with T-Hub. Neither T-Hub nor the government has done any tangible work in gathering funds since the State Innovation Policy was launched in July 2017 vide G.O Ms. No. 10.

According to T-Hub officials, the fund is no longer an independent private fund but will be administered by the government, even though the policy states that it will be privately held and the government will be a limited partner. A limited partner has restricted interaction in the business practices. T-Hub officials said, “We have nothing to do with T-Fund. Originally, the idea was to run it as independent private fund and check the deal flow through all the channels, but now it will be run by the government.”

However, the T-Fund website is up and running and is being administered by T-Hub. As per the Innovation Policy, THub Board of Directors, corporate networks and senior government officials will constitute a panel to decide the nature and amount of fund investments. The fund shall be managed by a professional fund manager who will be recruited from the market and who will also be responsible for raising additional fund money by engaging with financial institutions, venture capital and private equity firms and High Networth Individuals (HNIs).