Innovation Can Start Anywhere: Sridhar Babu, IT Minister

IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu graces the closing ceremony of The August Fest 2025

Proposal mooted to declare Mythrivanam as a Heritage Building because the evolution of IT in Hyderabad began there. The minister said the proposal will be looked into

. In 2024, Hyderabad start-ups raised $571 million — a 160% jump from 2023 — across 81 funding rounds. HealthTech skyrocketed by 2,139% to $300 million; FinTech nearly doubled to $105 million: Minister shared

Hyderabad, August 10, 2025 — “Innovation can start anywhere — it doesn’t have to begin in Silicon Valley. It can come from Hyderabad or a remote village in Telangana,” declared D. Sridhar Babu, Minister for Information Technology, Government of Telangana, while addressing the closing ceremony of The August Fest 2025 at HITEX on Saturday night.

The August Fest — Asia’s largest start-up festival — which made a grand comeback after seven years, drew 7,600 innovators, entrepreneurs, artists, and investors in a vibrant celebration of ideas, ambition, and creativity. Veteran IT leader J.A. Chowdary and August Fest founder Kiran also graced the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kiran, founder of August Fest, said 7600 enthusiastic innovators, dreamers visited the August Fest during the day. It was the festival of ideas, ambitions, creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Mr. Sridhar Babu, the IT Minister, is a politician who works like an entrepreneur, said Kiran.

Sridhar Babu felicitated a few individuals who silently helped the IT Industry eco-system to grow in the city. The Minister congratulated Mr. Kiran, founder of August Fest, for their contribution to the startup ecosystem of the city.

In a rousing address, Sridhar Babu shared that Hyderabad start-ups raised $571 million in 2024, a 160% jump from 2023, across 81 funding rounds. HealthTech funding soared by 2,139% to $300 million, FinTech nearly doubled to $105 million, late-stage funding surged 701% to $297 million, and early-stage funding rose 73% to $233 million.

Between January 2020 and May 2025, Hyderabad produced 2,500+ start-ups, attracting $2.1 billion in funding — 99.7% of Telangana’s total start-up capital. As of June 2025, Telangana has 1,404 DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) -recognised start-ups.

Women-led ventures are thriving, with Hyderabad ranking 6th in India — 531 such start-ups have raised $417 million. Through STPI Hyderabad, 1,400+ start-ups have received support worth ₹574 crore, with 44% being women-led, the Minister said.

Global giants such as FedEx, London Stock Exchange, Uber, Micron, and Eli Lilly are expanding in Telangana. The state is developing a 200-acre AI City, set to be one of the world’s largest AI hubs, and Genome Valley’s 2,000 acres have made Hyderabad Asia’s leading biotech cluster, he added

“The future of Telangana’s start-up ecosystem belongs to everyone — coders, farmers, artists, and women entrepreneurs. Every challenge — from climate change to urban congestion — is also a start-up opportunity,” the Minister said, urging participants to collaborate beyond their usual circles.

Mythrivanam as Heritage

Recalling the early days of Hyderabad’s IT journey, Sridhar Babu credited Mythrivanam in Ameerpet as the location where the city’s IT ecosystem truly began in 1992, with the establishment of the first STPI Hyderabad. He announced that he would take forward J.A. Chowdary’s proposal to declare Mythrivanam a Heritage Building in recognition of its historic role in shaping the city’s technology growth.

“Hyderabad is now a blazing beacon on the world’s innovation radar,” Sridhar Babu said. “We’re not following trends — we’re setting them. The next big idea that changes the world could be yours.”