The startup scene was riding the success wave until the first quarter of 2020. Then came the sad tales of no funding, lack of activity and of course the lockdown.

Covid-19 was an unexpected jolt to the startup sector, but considering most startups are based on new ideas, we all adapted to fast to the ‘new normal’. The startups in the ecosystem revisited their business ideas, took to product pivots and remodelled it to suit the current needs and also realised the need to stay lean to be able to stop from falling harder. Instead of general webinars, we took actionable steps for our startups. We at WE Hub, for example, focussed on helping our members remodelling some of the products. We got the founder of the startup called Sweet Tooth, which was into gourmet desserts in Hyderabad, to start making essentials like daily needs and connected her entity to multiple hyperlocal delivery players. It not just saved jobs but made her expand her business to be able to scale to employ more people and expand her unit as a new product vertical was created. Then Radius, an edutech company which was primarily into designing hardware components which can digitalise any blackboard, focus on Octa, a video conferencing platform. We ourselves use this product here. WE Hub also waived off three-month rentals to the entrepreneurs. WE Hub is also working on funding mechanisms including a debt funding facility for the MSME and rural entrepreneurs.

-DEEPTHI RAVULA, CEO – WE Hub

To Know more: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/2020/jul/08/startup-down-up-down–2166782.html