Kanwal Rekhi-funded rural incubation center will open in Telangana on January 8

Serial entrepreneur and TiE co-founder Kanwal Rekhi

The center aims to mentor more than 10,000 student entrepreneurs and support more than 500 start-ups from rural areas by 2030.

“A lot is happening in urban India in terms of entrepreneurship. This should go to Bharat (rural India),” Kanwal Rekhi told. business line.

Rekhi is here in Hyderabad on his way to Nizamabad, about 170 km away.

The center will be run by Kakatiya Sandbox, a non-profit organization founded by Sierra Atlantic founder Raju Reddy and redBus founder Phanindra Sama. The sandbox is inspired by a similar initiative started by Deshpande Foundation in Karnataka by IT entrepreneur Desh Deshpande.

“I will invest $2.5 million in the center, which has already started investing in local start-ups. We do not own this model. It can be replicated by anyone anywhere,” he said.

Rekhi, who took his company Excelan to the Nasdaq listing, also co-founded Inventus Capital Partners, which focuses on backing early-stage and growth-stage companies.

He said building platforms to provide mentorship to entrepreneurs in the second and third tier markets and capital markets of cities would help entrepreneurship take root where it mattered most.

“Imagine if rural Indians could double their income and productivity with the help of technology, how radically this would change the country. Unlocking this potential across Bharat is essential if India is to become one of the top economies by 2047,” he said.

Although the work has started with KREST funds, the center will help the sandbox bring them all under one roof and start a physical incubation.

“We are supporting the budding entrepreneurs of IIIT-Basara and helping them build their start-ups. We have another initiative called YUVA, a student entrepreneurship programme. These start-ups would in turn help others by building an ecosystem,” Phanindra shared. business line.

“We provide targeted funding support to founders building solutions for rural and semi-urban India; mentorship and exposure opportunities for startup entrepreneurs; and Bridge2Bharat, a soft landing program that enables startups to enter and scale North Telangana,” he said.

The KREST center will house co-working spaces, a fully equipped Makers Lab, dedicated office spaces for start-ups and exhibition and demonstration areas.

Published on January 8, 2026