North Karnataka, with its entrepreneurs and engineering talent, has a culture of sharing resources to tap opportunities. But infrastructure woes hobble meaningful growth
In the absence of infrastructure development, common platforms are the only way forward for business in north Karnataka. If Melligiri envisaged the SEZ-oriented hub, and the foundries are using a common testing facility, Hubballi has the Sandbox Startups Incubation Center (SSIC), the brainchild of Gururaj Deshpande.
Deshpande co-founded optical fibre equipment manufacturer Sycamore Networks in the US and took it to a public listing in the late 1990s. The Deshpande Foundation opened SSIC in Hubballi last year. It now houses a Makers Lab for technology entrepreneurs, and an Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) Cluster, which provides startups in the field of medical devices and Internet of Things (IoT) with labs and equipment to make prototypes of their products; the startups, therefore, do not need to invest in 3D printing labs or other expensive equipment for different technologies. The state government has provided financial support to the ESDM Cluster.
The incubation centre also helps entrepreneurs tap into local markets and unaddressed markets. For example, Freshboxx, which began in Hubballi with B2C ambitions like BigBasket, changed its focus to address the B2B segments to improve revenues. It now provides fresh fruits and vegetables to hotels, retail chains and shops in Hubballi-Dharwad and Belagavi, and is getting ready to expand into Karwar and Goa.
SSIC has attracted ventures like LinkEZ, an IoT-based startup that wants to make a smart factory for SMEs, and Oscillo Machines, which designs and prototypes paddy transplanters and harvesters. “We help such ventures get initial customers or the right global partners,” says CM Patil, CEO, SSIC.
Nexus3D, one of the startups that won a ₹2.5-lakh prize at a Sandbox Startups Bootcamp, began as a 3D printing outfit and evolved into an online aggregator to help SMEs and engineering service companies—which require 3D printing to prototype new designs—access 3D printing vendors in the region.
“We learnt that different customers have different 3D printing needs and price requirements, which is better to address rather than just us giving a 3D printing service,” says Vikas Hutagikar, founder of Nexus 3D in Hubballi. “It means more revenue for us, and a one-stop 3D printing shop for customers to place their orders.” Its differentiation is a proprietary algorithm to calculate the best price quotes for customers in less than 30 seconds. “Basically, it analyses a 3D printing file after the customer sends it, checks if that part is printable or not, and gives a price quote depending on parameters such as material selected,” he explains. Although headquartered at the Sandbox Startups in Hubballi-Dharwad, Nexus 3D is accessible to clients in any part of India.
SSIC is a not-for-profit company recognised by the central government’s Department of Science and Technology, and has spawned more than 40 startups in seven years. “The whole region has so much potential and talent,” says Melligiri. “There are a lot of entrepreneurs that Sandbox is willing to bet on. Deshpande has done a great job. But how do entrepreneurs take the next step, from growth to maturity? There’s a great startup situation, then what happens?”
So far, north Karnataka has got a boost from the successful entrepreneurs it has produced, with Melligiri and Deshpande providing the required thrust to its engineering talent pool, like Wipro and Infosys did in Bengaluru. However, the state government needs to ensure it doesn’t repeat the mistakes of poor infrastructure planning, like it did in the capital city, and make north Karnataka an obvious alternative to Bengaluru.
(This story appears in the 19 July, 2019 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)