Times Internet Limited has started an incubation program to develop and nurture entrepreneurs in the Internet and Mobile space. T-Labs will work with the incubated startups at every step of the evolution giving them expert advice and leadership guidance to enable world class product delivery.
Times Internet intends to fund at least 20 startups this year and will invest about 10 lacs in each startup for a 10% stake. While this is a good news for the entire entrepreneurship ecosystem, some experts have argued whether this is the beginning of the Incubator bubble in India.
Times Internet experience as a product company is also very unfocused. Without a clear focus on certain technologies, it would be interesting to see what kind of startups they end up incubating. On the positive side, Times Internet has a huge user base and startups could use this base to test their product and drive sales/marketing in the initial period. Times Internet will focus more on the technology aspect of the startup rather than the business aspect to avoid conflict of interest with its own web services.
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