We envision an environment where anyone can realize their entrepreneurial aspiration, with free and full access to our startup ecosystem, regardless of one’s socio-cultural, geographic, education or financial background or venture domain one that will meet the realities of real India.

We see a wide spectrum of startups emerging in India to meet the heterogeneous structure of the Indian economy and society.
Venture-funded technology startups, whilst important, is just one such form and even there, the model still needs to evolve for India. We see the vibrancy of such entrepreneurship at scale drive the future of livelihoods, economic growth, global identity and social infrastructure development for India.

The purpose of Deshpande Startups is to catalyze such an environment. The world has 7 billion people. About the top 2 billion are now served well by what we now know as the startup ecosystem in metros in India and abroad. The economic activity for the bottom 5 billion is picking up and that growing economy is underserved by startups. There are startups coming up in big metros to serve this population in India. However, they suffer being far removed from the customer base. The audacious goal for the incubation centre in Hubballi is to create the Best Ecosystem for startups to serve the bottom 5 billion people in the world and the associated businesses.

India has over 1.3 billion people. About 200 million of them live in cities and over 1.1 billion live in villages and semi-urban areas. Hubballi is a small city surrounded by villages. The incubator in Hubballi offers access to a rural and semi-urban customer base, motivated cost-effective talent and compassionate mentors who can nurture startups. The startups can draw on the expertise and support of 500 professionals of the Deshpande Foundation’s Hubballi sandbox who are actively engaged in programs for skill development, agriculture, livelihoods and healthcare for these rural and semi-urban customers. With the assistance of these seasoned professionals the startups can refine business models designed to serve this important customer segment.

If startups in Hubballi can serve villages and semi-urban areas in India, they can then expand their businesses to global markets to serve the 5 billion people at the base of the economic pyramid across the world.