The Hindu Business Line : TiE Hyderabad revived; to take up mentor role

THE Hyderabad chapter of The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE), a network of entrepreneurs and professionals, has been reactivated following the visit of Mr Vinod Khosla, General Partner Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a leading venture capitalist and Silicon Valley mentor.

The Hyderabad chapter of the TiE was established in the year 2000. It has announced its move to revive its activities with new strategies and a new President.

Mr J.A. Chowdary, who is the Managing Director of Pinexe Systems, and formerly Director of STPI, Hyderabad, would serve as the new President of The TiE Hyderabad chapter.

The inactivity of the Hyderabad TiE synchronised with the recession in the industry. While there are many venture capitalists still willing to fund good projects and ideas, there are hardly any mentors in the Indian context. Over the last 10 years, the Indian IT services industry has managed to grow rapidly.

As the country entrepreneurs enter the next stage of IT services and product development, particularly IP creation, mentoring would be absolutely necessary. The revival of TiE was aimed at providing one such initiative, Mr Chowdary stated.

During his visit, Mr Khosla stated while the IT sector itself would continue to get funded, newer areas such as biotechnology and bioinformatics would see more investments. He was particularly impressed by some bioinformatics start-ups based in the Genome valley.