Telangana Blockchain District’s Accelerator Program Shortlists 30 Startups

T-Block Accelerator, the inaugural accelerator program under the aegis of the Telangana Blockchain District  announced the 30 shortlisted startup cohort that will proceed to an intensive Start-up Training Program. The accelerator also announced the onboarding of global blockchain players Tezos India, R3 Corda, and SettleMint as platform partners and CV Labs, a Swiss-based incubator as the Hub Partner. With the support and expertise of these industry leaders in the blockchain realm, T-block will provide selected Indian startups from the first cohort with technical support to build their solutions on their platform, GTM (Go-To-Market) support, technology implementation support, and grants on a case-on-case basis.

The T-Block Accelerator organized by the Telangana Government and Tech Mahindra and run by IBC Media, an innovation management company saw registrations from over 160 blockchain-based startups from across India. Of these 160 registered startups,  30 selected startups in the first cohort will undergo a three-week-long training period including one-on-one sessions with a panel of mentors,  workshops, presentations, discussions, and assignments designed to impart the practical knowledge required to build relevant blockchain products with real-world applications. After further filtration, the selected start-ups will have an opportunity to pitch innovative ideas and get mentored by experts from the government of Telangana, Tech Mahindra, C-DAC, and IIIT Hyderabad.

Jayesh Ranjan ( Principal Secretary, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana) said “As one of the first states in India to focus on leveraging emerging technologies for increased efficiency of the overall functioning of the government, the Telangana government has always looked to nurture new startups and businesses in emerging technology in India. The 30 selected startups that proceed to the acceleration phase of the T-Block Accelerator have shown immense potential to solve real-life problems faced across verticals. Our new partnerships with global platform protocols strengthen our commitment to support these startups through their entrepreneurial journey and we look forward to their growth through the course of this accelerator program.”

Rama Devi Lanka (Director, Emerging Technologies & Officer on Special Duty, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana) added, “We have seen some very interesting startups register for the T-Block Accelerator and are looking forward to engaging and interacting closely with the selected 30 startups. Armed with all the support from the Telangana Blockchain District and the mentorship from our multiple global partners, we look forward to multiple disruptive solutions from these selected startups that will lead the nation to a path of progress and innovation.”

Nicolai Reinbold, Ecosystem and Incubation Manager at CV Labs added, “After being a part of the journey of building Zug in Switzerland as the Global Crypto Valley, we at CV Labs, are excited to be a part of this initiative aimed to further the vision of the Telangana government of becoming blockchain capital of India. Powering startups around blockchain products is a natural progression for our efforts in India and T-block is the perfect platform to do so. We see huge potential in the selected startups and their solutions are a validation of the technological prowess of India. We are very happy to join forces with the first government-led accelerator program to build the blockchain ecosystem in India.”

Om Malviya , President, Tezos India Foundation, is excited to be a part of the T-block accelerator to empower the startups with Tezos’ Blockchain support. “T-block accelerator program is an incredible platform to identify new startups with the potential to elevate the blockchain ecosystem in India and I am happy to see Tezos India foundation becoming a major partner for the same. It will be exciting to see how startups take full advantage of the features that Tezos provides, and how it will benefit their business.” said Om Malviya “We, at Tezos India Foundation, will be there at every step to provide any help, support or resources necessary.”

Shahzad Fatmi, CEO SettleMint India, mentioned that they are very proud to partner with T-Block.  He added, “SettleMint will bring its global experience and best practices to help the start-ups create robust applications and business plans for their company. We believe start-ups should focus on solving business challenges and taking their solutions faster to market.  T-Block's selected start-ups will have full support from SettleMint to achieve this goal.”

Following an earlier announcement, the Telangana Blockchain district has brought some of the major blockchain leaders as partners for this accelerator including Matic Networks, Harmony protocol, æternity, R3 Corda, Tezos India, and SettleMint as Platform partners along with CV Labs as the Hub Partner.  Launched in February 2020, the T-Block Accelerator has completed its deal flow and selected start-ups will undergo a three-week boot camp, followed by the acceleration phase.