Kavikrut, whose appointment as T-Hub CEO is effective March 10, 2025
| Photo Credit: Arrangement
Telangana government has named former startup entrepreneur Kavikrut, who served in leadership roles in multiple companies, as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its tech startup incubator T-Hub effective March 10, 2025.
Professional and academic background
Starting his career as a healthcare startup founder, Mr. Kavikrut worked with leading firms such as Amazon and Piramal Group. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MSc in Finance from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. He joins the incubator with 17 years in leadership roles, 10 of them with travel tech firm OYO.
His expertise will be critical in strengthening T-Hub’s role as an enabler of startup growth and market expansion, the incubator said on Friday (March 7, 2025) announcing the government decision to appoint Mr. Kavikrut as the CEO.
CGO at OYO
In his previous assignment as Chief Growth Officer at OYO, he played a pivotal role in expanding the firm’s footprint across more than 100 cities in India, launching new ventures, and leading as well as scaling multiple business functions. He also spearheaded its international expansion into Japan in partnership with Yahoo! Japan and SoftBank Japan in 2018.
The previous CEO of T-Hub Mahankali Srinivas Rao had resigned in October 2024. He was at the helm for around three years, including when it [T-HUB] moved into the present swanky, and one of the largest such buildings for incubators globally, in the heart of Hyderabad’s IT and innovation hub in June 2022. Consequently, the government had named Chief Innovation Officer Sujit Jagirdar as the interim CEO.
A view of technology and startup incubator T-Hub in Hyderabad. File
| Photo Credit:
NAGARA GOPAL
Over 2,000 startups supported by T-Hub
T-Hub as part of its focus on fostering entrepreneurship and scaling startups through cutting-edge programmes, global market access and deep industry collaboration has supported more than 2,000 startups. Mr. Kavikrut’s appointment will strengthen its mission to empower entrepreneurs, accelerate startup growth and drive the development of world-class products from India for the world, the incubator said.
His passion for startups, global experience and hands-on operational skills make him the ideal leader for T-Hub, Special Chief Secretary, IT and Industries Jayesh Ranjan said.
Kavikrut hails from Hyderabad
“Telangana’s commitment to startups has been truly inspiring… honoured to have the opportunity to build upon the pioneering work T-Hub has been doing for the past decade. I am excited by the potential of Hyderabad, the city I hail from, as it steadily grows into a hub for startups building products and services for the world,” Mr. Kavikrut said.
Founding director at T-Hub and founder chairman of IT firm Cyient B.V.R. Mohan Reddy described the new CEO’s appointment as a significant milestone for T-Hub.
With Mr. Kavikrut as the CEO, the Congress government would complete the appointment of heads of all three major startup ecosystem establishments in Hyderabad – T-Hub, hardware prototyping facility T-Works and women entrepreneurship focussed WE Hub – since assuming office in December 2023.
Published – March 07, 2025 02:24 pm IST
