DoT Launches TEN Square to Incubate Startups in ICT

The Department of Telecom along with Telecom Centers of Excellence and C-DoT has set up TEN Square to incubate startups in the field of information and communication technology.

"Department of Telecom along with Telecom Centers of Excellence (TCOE) India and C-DoT has set up Telecom Entrepreneurs (TEN) Square at TCOE India to incubate startups in ICT. This initiative was launched during the M2M/IoT forum 2017," an official statement said.

The TEN Square proposes to focus on seed funding up to the development of the Proof-of-Concept of technology solutions for selected startups.

"Venture Capitalists (VC) funding is expected to come in later stage for growth. TEN Square would utilise existing facilities at C-DoT and also at any other incubation centre to the extent feasible," the statement said.

The TEN Square proposed intake is of 5 startups on half-yearly basis, thus admitting 10 startups in a year and total 50 startups in 5 years with seed funding, which will be based on equity in the startups.

"A series of such events have also been planned in collaboration with different VC's in the future with business pitch competitions being an important event," the statement said.

The proposals received under the scheme will undergo a screening process by a committee headed by the Executive Director of C-DoT. The panel will shortlist and evaluate the proposals and would also determine the funding support for each startup against equity in case to case basis, the statement added.