T-Hub launches Flashpoint venture studio to co-build startups with founders
HYDERABAD: T-Hub has launched Flashpoint, a venture studio that will co-build startups with founders around industry-identified problems. The programme will initially focus on agri-tech and space-tech.
Selected founders will retain 100% ownership without equity dilution. T-Hub and its industry partners will identify problems, select founders and support them from the start of their ventures.
Founders to get industry access and infrastructure
Selected founders will receive operator-led mentorship and access to laboratories, testbeds and existing supply chains. T-Hub will also connect them with its network of investors, mentors and resource partners.
The model aims to address common early-stage challenges. These include identifying the right problem, accessing industry expertise and validating demand before developing a product.
T-Hub has supported more than 3,300 startups. Flashpoint will allow founders to focus on developing solutions to identified industry problems.
Agri-tech and space-tech tracks open
For the agri-tech track, T-Hub has partnered with Kheyti, which develops climate-resilient farming solutions for smallholder farmers.
Selected founders will join Kheyti as Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. They will receive a monthly stipend of ₹1 lakh, sponsored pilots and direct access to 8,000 greenhouse farmers from the first week.
For the space-tech track, T-Hub has partnered with Dhruva Space. Founders will get access to space engineering infrastructure, including cleanrooms, thermal-vacuum and vibration testing facilities, and ground stations.
The facilities will help founders develop, test and validate their technologies.
Applications are open for both tracks through T-Hub’s website. The organisation has also invited operators and industry partners to develop additional tracks across sectors.
T-Hub expands startup-building model
T-Hub CEO Kavikrut said Flashpoint would give founders access to an industry-validated problem, an experienced operator and T-Hub’s resources and network.
“Flashpoint offers founders something genuinely valuable — an industry-validated problem to solve, an experienced operator to build it with, and access to resources and network of T-Hub. If you have the entrepreneurial bug and the passion to build something meaningful, but don’t know where to start, this is the right programme for you,” he said.
Kheyti co-founder and CEO Kaushik Kappagantulu said the partnership marked a return to T-Hub for the company. Kheyti was among the first teams to receive space at the T-Hub campus at IIIT Hyderabad in 2015.
“This is a full-circle moment for us. Kheyti started at T-Hub. We were among the first teams allocated space at the T-Hub campus at IIIT Hyderabad in 2015, and we were there when Mr. Ratan Tata inaugurated it,” he said.
“Ten years on, we are back at T-Hub as the partner, helping the next generation of agritech founders start where we started, and further our vision of making every smallholder farmer in India climate smart,” he added.
Dhruva Space highlights opportunities
Dhruva Space co-founder and CEO Sanjay Nekkanti said India’s expanding space sector would create demand for indigenous technologies across the value chain.
“The opportunity is to build more satellites or launch systems, and also to develop the components, subsystems, software, data and services that will support a much larger Space economy,” he said.
India has the business, engineering and technical talent to build these capabilities for domestic and global markets, Nekkanti said.
He added that the planned Bharatiya Antariksh Space Station could create opportunities for companies working on in-orbit operations, servicing, research and other applications.
Through Flashpoint, Dhruva Space will provide founders with access to infrastructure, expertise and real-world environments to develop and scale their technologies, he said.
Flashpoint builds on Blueprint
The venture studio follows T-Hub’s recent launch of Blueprint, a 12-month fellowship for deep-tech startups. Under the programme, T-Hub works as a generalist chief experience officer to help startups move from early traction to scale.
Flashpoint extends the co-building model to the earliest stage of a founder’s journey, before a company is formed.
T-Hub said it would continue helping founders build pathways to capital, customers and markets from Hyderabad and India to the world.
