Hyderabad-based startup incubator T-Hub on Tuesday announced Ravi Narayan as the new CEO effective from January. Ravi joins T-Hub from Microsoft for Startups, where he was global Director and brings more than two decades of expertise in building startup ecosystems.
T-Hub has more than 1,100 domestic and international startups that have received support to scale, including various corporate partnerships.
Ravi will further elevate the process to build a stronger ecosystem in Telangana and in India.
Speaking on the occasion, Ravi Narayan said, “We talk about innovation and ecosystem here and the programs here such as international relations, Corporate innovation have done very well. For me, the next level is bringing all of it togetherand creating an innovation ecosystem. We don't have to follow anyone's footsteps. We have to carve out our own path to create an innovation ecosystem.”
Ravi added that three things T-Hub now needs to work on are: Funding for entrepreneurs, Corporate implementation and Technology depth.
“This is how I see ourselves unfolding the ecosystem so that others look at us and emulate what we have done here. First phase - institutionalising and scaling all our programs with specific focus on Corporate Innovation. Second phase is talking about what we have done and sharing this with our ecosystem partners and creating the necessary capital infrastructure. Third phase, I see us going out there and deepening technology,” said Ravi.
Ravi studied at IIT Madras and did his MBA from University of Southern California.
In the intervening period, the board had appointed Srinivas Kollipara as interim CEO from September 15, 2018. Srinivas, who was serving as the COO of T-Hub at that point, took over as interim CEO from the incumbent Jay Krishnan who resigned.
“We thank Jay for his outstanding contributions during his tenure to bring T-Hub to great heights of success. We wish him the best in his future endeavours. To sustain the great work on startup incubation, corporate innovation and international market access programs, and to lead T-Hub into the next phase of growth, the Board has commissioned a search firm to look for the next CEO of T-Hub,” the Board had said in a statement.