Tech Mahindra to launch startup garage for in-house entrepreneurs
Tech Mahindra is all set to create a startup garage for its in-house entrepreneurs which will be first for a corporate entity in India.
“Within our set-up, we have a number of companies that is working already. But we are about to launch a garage soon.Ours will be the first corporate garage for the startups,” TechM chief strategy officer and head of the ‘growth factories’ initiative Jagdish Mitra said in the press release.
At present, as many as 15 businesses have emerged from among the over 1.05 lakh TechM employees and they work as part of the ‘growth factories. According to Mitra, all the businesses which are getting incubated will be physically housed together in the garage and doing so will give them independence to operate. Mentoring the businesses will also be easier if they are housed together.
On investments, Mitra said the money will be spent on infrastructure and in the movement of people into the garage, but declined to share a number.
The company already runs a programme called ‘Iris’ to encourage business ideas. After that, they are funded according to their need and milestones are set for the progress of the businesses.
The proposed garage will house both existing companies as well as help incubate new startups.It can be noted that a slew of corporates have various levels of engagement with the startup world. Some like Reliance Industries do competitions to select businesses/ideas and then support them with a mentoring programme run jointly with Microsoft, while many have dedicated funds for tapping potentially disruptive ideas.
TechM, the country’s fifth-largest software exporter, has created a USD 150-million fund for engagement with startups, which invests both in the in-house startups, and in companies outside those which have been promoted by its employees. There are three such ‘external startups’ which it has backed till now.
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