Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has appealed to startup founders to make use of the Rs 1,000 crore Startup Fund to be soon launched by the state government and expressed his hope that at least 100 startups from Hyderabad would become unicorns by 2034. In the context, he referred to the humble beginnings of Google in 1998.

For context, Google started as a Stanford University research project called "BackRub" in 1996, developed by Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, using dorm room computers and borrowed hardware to index the web, eventually moving to a garage office and getting its first $100K check from an investor before officially launching as Google in 1998.

The Chief Minister was addressing a gathering after launching the Google for Startups (GfS) hub in T-Hub here on Tuesday.

The Chief Minister said he wants Hyderabad to become a hub not just for startups but also a hub of unicorns. “At least 100 startups from Hyderabad must become unicorns, and at least 10 of them, super unicorns, by 2034. With the GfS launch, he said, the government and Google came together to create the support system for startups. “We will work together to create a winning ecosystem.”

Citing the inspiring journey of Google, he encouraged startups to become billion-dollar companies. “In the last two days, we organised the Telangana Rising 2047 Global Summit. We shared the vision for our future. We aim to become a 1 trillion-dollar economy by 2034, and a 3-trillion-dollar economy by 2047.” The Telangana Rising vision for startups is aligned with the ambition of startups becoming unicorns, he added.

Revanth Reddy charted the impressive growth of Hyderabad-based companies in software services, pharma, and life sciences over the last 25 years. The Chief Minister emphasised the importance of teamwork and hard work for startup success.