Innovation can start anywhere, says Telangana IT Minister Sridhar Babu
Addressing the closing ceremony of 'The August Fest 2025', Asia's largest start-up festival held at HITEX, Madhapur last night, he congratulated the organisers and several individuals who contributed quietly to the growth of Hyderabad's IT ecosystem.
He lauded August Fest founder Kiran for his role in nurturing the city's start-up culture, while Kiran described the Minister as 'a politician who works like an entrepreneur.'
Highlighting the city's robust start-up growth, the Minister said Hyderabad-based start-ups raised USD 571 million in 2024 — a 160 per cent jump from 2023 — across 81 funding rounds.
HealthTech funding surged by 2,139 per cent to USD 300 million, FinTech nearly doubled to USd 105 million, late-stage funding climbed 701 per cent to USD 297 million, and early-stage funding rose 73 per cent to USd 233 million. Between January 2020 and May 2025, the city produced over 2,500 start-ups, attracting USD 2.1 billion in funding, accounting for 99.7 per cent of Telangana's total start-up capital, he said.
Women-led ventures are thriving, with Hyderabad ranking sixth in India. A total of 531 such start-ups have raised USD 417 million. Through STPI Hyderabad, over 1,400 start-ups have received support worth Rs 574 crore, 44 per cent of them led by women, the minister said.
Global corporations such as FedEx, London Stock Exchange, Uber, Micron and Eli Lilly are expanding operations in Telangana. The state is developing a 200-acre AI City, projected to be one of the largest AI hubs in the world, while Genome Valley's 2,000 acres have made Hyderabad Asia's leading biotech cluster.
Recalling the early days of the city's IT journey, Sridhar Babu credited Mythrivanam in Ameerpet — home to the first STPI Hyderabad in 1992 — as the starting point of Hyderabad's technology growth. He said the government would consider J.A. Chowdary's proposal to declare Mythrivanam a heritage building in recognition of its historic role.
'The future of Telangana's start-up ecosystem belongs to everyone — coders, farmers, artists and women entrepreneurs. Every challenge, from climate change to urban congestion, is also a start-up opportunity,' the Minister said, urging participants to collaborate beyond their usual circles. 'Hyderabad is now a blazing beacon on the world's innovation radar. We're not following trends — we're setting them. The next big idea that changes the world could be yours.' UNI VV SSP
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