We hub home to business women from across India

HYDERABAD: Not just startups from Telangana, fledgling women-led enterprises from other metro cities — including tech and financial hubs such as Bengaluru and Mumbai — are also finding their way into Hyderabad’s We Hub, India’s first state-built incubator for women entrepreneurs. Some young founders told Nirupa Vatyam that this has turned the facility into a national treasure, helping them connect with venture capitalists to fund their dream projects
Surabhi Chhatre Nigam | FOUNDER, DYGNIFY VENTURES
Approaching We Hub was a simple decision.It was the only accelerator for women in the country and Surabhi knew she had to be here. “Dygnify is a blockchain startup that provides an end-to-end platform to connect investors with those working on projects related to climate tech. Access to tech stack at We Hub helped us immensely,” she said adding they raised $60,000 from the facility. Association with the facility also helped the 40-year-old’s startup win many hackathons and the Web3 Regulatory Sandbox launched by the Telangana government. An MBA from Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, Surabhi said that through her startup, she is trying to bring transparency and trust into funding related to climate tech projects. She revealed they have identified 500 beneficiaries and will launch pilots with community-led climate tech projects.
Nidhi Sharma | FOUNDER, ABBY
Nidhi was struggling to raise funds for her Bengaluru-based enterprise until she found her way to We Hub. She set foot in the Hyderabad facility in 2021, where she found a ‘home’ and an entry into the ‘boys club’. The solo founder of Abby, a live commerce ecosystem, said: “Before coming here, I thought venture capitalists majority of them men — were itching to find a reason to reject my pitch. I am not saying they were doing this on purpose. Maybe it was a question of reliability. But I did feel the bias. ” She was introduced to the incubator by an angel investor.
“An early-stage startup requires an ecosystem that believes in them, which encourages them to move forward despite failures. Be it support, networking, mentoring, funding I got everything at We Hub. ” Nidhi said her startup which works with brands such as Shoppers Stop, Wonderchef will disrupt the e-commerce industry with a complete shopping experience by live streaming products and answer queries immediately.

Bhakti Deshpande | CO-FOUNDER, ARTFILLS
For Bhakti and her husband — also a cofounder — it made sense to look for spaces in Mumbai or Goa, which were closer home to their Nashik-based startup. Heading to Hyderabad for good meant venturing into an uncharted territory. But they did, and the proactiveness of the We Hub team put their doubts over the decision to immediate rest. “The kind of response we got from We Hub was completely different from what we got at other places. While others were slow, and did not even have a basic application system in place, We Hub was proactive and systematic,” Bhakti said, adding how some incubators have still not reverted. Another USP was the customised and flexible model offered to them.
“We Hub understands that each startup has unique needs,” said the co-founder of Artfills, which provides online courses in Indian art forms. That her husband, Dhruv, studied at ISB also helped while moving base.