IKP EDEN

A startup incubator with a makerspace

16, Bhuvanappa Layout, Tavarekere Main Road, Bangalore 560 029, India

Makerspace Incubator Coworking space

Space size 2300 m²

Opened in June 2018

Structure type Non-profit organisation

Explored in June 2017


IKP EDEN is a hardware incubator focusing on building "made in India" startups and products. They want to put all the tools in their hands to succeed.

Main interests

Technology - machines & tools Entrepreneurship Robotics Industry & innovation Electronics Design Drones & aeronautics

This workshop is great for:

Entrepreneurs Large companies Small & medium businesses Makers pro

The closest workshops nearby are:

Interview & guided tour

Meet someone from the team & discover the space by yourself!

Our workshop

Learn more about our space, members, machines & services!

IKP EDEN is a 4 stages building in the middle of Bangalore, were you can walk in the middle of 32 hardware startups, some behind closed offices, other in co-working spaces, surrounded by electronics components, and all working on the development of their products.

Launched in 2015, the IKP EDEN incubator belongs to the non-profit organization IKP knowledge Park, a life science incubator located in Hyderabad, focusing on wet lab innovation research for biology, biotech and chemistry startups. This strong organization has served 150 companies so far, and manages challenge grants with funds raised from national and international organizations.

IKP EDEN is a generalist startups incubator, with a clear mission: to become the best hardware incubator across India, promote and develop the “made in India”, and foster the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Initially the place has been launched to help startups with a mature idea to bring their prototype to the market, and develop products “that will have a positive social and economic impact for India”.

IKP EDEN has been thought and designed to serve startups purposes. It is a hardware incubator before all, with a set of prototyping machines to help its members building their Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

Since its creation the incubator has hosted 47 startups (32 are still in its walls), and more than 250 members (180 currently actives). Startups represent 95% of memberships. Among them 80% are between 20 and 30 year old. There is currently a massive representation of males in the lab (80% of the members).

Startups joining the lab usually have already used other spaces to build their first prototypes, and come with a mature idea. They are looking for the facilities providing co-working spaces (and even isolated offices), machines (IKP is strongly investing in high tech prototyping machines to attract its users). But also for the strong network provided by IKP, its mentors, grants and investors connections.

To fulfill their ambition to build the next generation of hardware startups, IKP EDEN wants to focus on student education, and provide more workshops to bring them in the lab. They already organize many hackathons for them and are building a long-term program to accompany them into entrepreneurship.

IKP EDEN has been launched by the IKP college from Hyderabad with an initial investment of 1,2MM$, to build the facilities, and start renting the place. 50% were used to build the facilities and the machines, and 50% for the operational costs. At this time, a team of 5 people opened the place, and quickly raised to 10 in 2016.

In 2016, the annual operational budget to run the space was 500K$. Most of the costs were linked to the rent (66%), followed by manpower (25%) and 9% for the miscellaneous.

The incubator is not breakeven yet (at 60%). 95% of its revenues come from memberships fees (30% for co-working, 10% for the makerspace, 60% for both).

In order to reach a sustainable model, it focuses on building a biggest workshops offer, especially for students, and wants to develop more partnerships with companies (workshops, Hackathons, common projects..). It also plans to develop 2 hardware accelerators for its startups. One for social businesses, which will be run in partnership with private companies, and one “classic” model, in which IKP will invest itself in the capital of the startups selected.

The main challenges for the team remain to hire skilled and motivated people to run all the progams. In 2017, they will look to double the size of the team, and are looking for people with engineering and communication skills.

There are three main ways to become a member of IKP EDEN. By taking a simple monthly membership to access the machines and the co-working space, by application for a startup mentorship program or a startup funding program. For those 2 last, a selection process is hold. Applicants must present their project and prove its maturity in front of a jury.

Once selected, the startups can access the facilities and benefits from the mentorship program. A “board of advisor” of 6 members from different background assists the startups in their strategy. There is no official process to track the evolution of the startups. They are advised to use a “smart sheet” to document their work but it is not compulsory.

The lab provides a few workshops on 3D printing, wood, to learn how to use the machines. They are all free for the members. More workshops will be developed focusing on students.

Today 10 people are running the IKP EDEN, including 1 CEO, 2 engineers, 1 macro biology expert, 2 technicians, 1 funding expert, 1 accountant and 2 administrators.

One of the strength of IKP EDEN is their number of partnerships, linked to their activities in Hyderabad. Among them we can quote US AID, DFID (UK government), Indian government. They provide funds to the incubator and work with them on different topics.

The documentation of projects developed in the incubator is not compulsory. Every startup can decide if they want to document, and do not have to share any information. If they ask, the lab’s team help them to use “smart sheet” mostly to establish and manage their road map.

The team is currently seeing the documentation as a challenge, and is willing to work on a way to encourage startups to do it. The main reason is that when investors come to ask for startups advancements the lab would like to be able to provide them with enough information to convince them of the startups interests.

IKP EDEN is a 4 stages building in the middle of Bangalore, were you can walk in the middle of 32 hardware startups, some behind closed offices, other in co-working spaces, surrounded by electronics components, and all working on the development of their products.

Launched in 2015, the IKP EDEN incubator belongs to the non-profit organization IKP knowledge Park, a life science incubator located in Hyderabad, focusing on wet lab innovation research for biology, biotech and chemistry startups. This strong organization has served 150 companies so far, and manages challenge grants with funds raised from national and international organizations.

IKP EDEN is a generalist startups incubator, with a clear mission: to become the best hardware incubator across India, promote and develop the “made in India”, and foster the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Initially the place has been launched to help startups with a mature idea to bring their prototype to the market, and develop products “that will have a positive social and economic impact for India”.

IKP EDEN has been thought and designed to serve startups purposes. It is a hardware incubator before all, with a set of prototyping machines to help its members building their Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

Since its creation the incubator has hosted 47 startups (32 are still in its walls), and more than 250 members (180 currently actives). Startups represent 95% of memberships. Among them 80% are between 20 and 30 year old. There is currently a massive representation of males in the lab (80% of the members).

Startups joining the lab usually have already used other spaces to build their first prototypes, and come with a mature idea. They are looking for the facilities providing co-working spaces (and even isolated offices), machines (IKP is strongly investing in high tech prototyping machines to attract its users). But also for the strong network provided by IKP, its mentors, grants and investors connections.

To fulfill their ambition to build the next generation of hardware startups, IKP EDEN wants to focus on student education, and provide more workshops to bring them in the lab. They already organize many hackathons for them and are building a long-term program to accompany them into entrepreneurship.

IKP EDEN has been launched by the IKP college from Hyderabad with an initial investment of 1,2MM$, to build the facilities, and start renting the place. 50% were used to build the facilities and the machines, and 50% for the operational costs. At this time, a team of 5 people opened the place, and quickly raised to 10 in 2016.

In 2016, the annual operational budget to run the space was 500K$. Most of the costs were linked to the rent (66%), followed by manpower (25%) and 9% for the miscellaneous.

The incubator is not breakeven yet (at 60%). 95% of its revenues come from memberships fees (30% for co-working, 10% for the makerspace, 60% for both).

In order to reach a sustainable model, it focuses on building a biggest workshops offer, especially for students, and wants to develop more partnerships with companies (workshops, Hackathons, common projects..). It also plans to develop 2 hardware accelerators for its startups. One for social businesses, which will be run in partnership with private companies, and one “classic” model, in which IKP will invest itself in the capital of the startups selected.

The main challenges for the team remain to hire skilled and motivated people to run all the progams. In 2017, they will look to double the size of the team, and are looking for people with engineering and communication skills.

There are three main ways to become a member of IKP EDEN. By taking a simple monthly membership to access the machines and the co-working space, by application for a startup mentorship program or a startup funding program. For those 2 last, a selection process is hold. Applicants must present their project and prove its maturity in front of a jury.

Once selected, the startups can access the facilities and benefits from the mentorship program. A “board of advisor” of 6 members from different background assists the startups in their strategy. There is no official process to track the evolution of the startups. They are advised to use a “smart sheet” to document their work but it is not compulsory.

The lab provides a few workshops on 3D printing, wood, to learn how to use the machines. They are all free for the members. More workshops will be developed focusing on students.

Today 10 people are running the IKP EDEN, including 1 CEO, 2 engineers, 1 macro biology expert, 2 technicians, 1 funding expert, 1 accountant and 2 administrators.

One of the strength of IKP EDEN is their number of partnerships, linked to their activities in Hyderabad. Among them we can quote US AID, DFID (UK government), Indian government. They provide funds to the incubator and work with them on different topics.

The documentation of projects developed in the incubator is not compulsory. Every startup can decide if they want to document, and do not have to share any information. If they ask, the lab’s team help them to use “smart sheet” mostly to establish and manage their road map.

The team is currently seeing the documentation as a challenge, and is willing to work on a way to encourage startups to do it. The main reason is that when investors come to ask for startups advancements the lab would like to be able to provide them with enough information to convince them of the startups interests.

Technologies & processes available

3D printing Electronics CNC milling Robotics Computing & softwares Metal working tools Traditional tools

Services offered

Coworking space Workshop memberships Prototyping Classes & workshops Startups & projects hosting Startups & projects incubation / mentoring Projects & sprints sessions Coaching & project mentoring

Our best practices

The inspiring things we do here to run our collaborative space

Free workshops for the members

What is it?

Each member of the IKP EDEN incubator can attend the workshops organized for free.

In concrete terms?

IKP EDEN provides a certain number of workshops to learn the uses of machines, but also on design thinking, coding.. These workshops are open to all, and free for members which can attend as many as they want.

Why it’s interesting?

It encourages the members to always improve their skills, discover new technics, and stay active in the community, as they often attend the workshops by groups.


Board of advisors

What is it?

Each startup joining the incubator program benefits from a “board of advisor”, that they meet monthly.

In concrete terms?

6 members of a “board of advisor” are selected every year to help startups in their strategy and decision. They challenge their decisions and help them to make connections with IKP network.

Why it’s interesting?

It requires startups to sum up their decision and justify their strategy in front of external people every month, forcing them to think about their directions. Also they can benefit from the expertise and network of experienced people.


Our makers projects

Get inspired by the DIY projects of our team & members

YOSTRA

Our vision is to strive for making the healthcare effective and affordable. We develop innovative and practical healthcare solutions in collaboration with our customers, to enable them deliver effective and affordable patient care!

This project of Yostra aims at building a diagnosic tool to prevent those diabetes degradations!


Janitri

Developing sustainable technology to improve maternal and child healthcare!


Skylarks Drone

What’s the project story?

In 2008, Mughilan participated a lot to drone international competitions. 5 years later, he won the NASA System Award for the best drone design. That’s how he decided to create his own company with his team.

His objective was to understand how they could use drones for the better of the society. They found out 3 sectors: utilities, mining and infrastructures, that has challenges of security, productivity and reach.

That’s how they started building specific applications for those industries, first in a garage, then at Starbucks and finally at IKP Eden.

Today, they’ve built 10 to 15 drones, have 15 customers and 20 employees. Thanks to their drones, they gather, analyse and provide to their customers visual datas on mapping, surveillance or topography.

How do they interact with the workshop?

Arrived in September 2015 at IKP Eden, they were the very first users of the makerspace. Thanks to IKP, they’ve been able to build their drones in-house.

What’s next?

They want to become a global company by helping companies with the analysis of their datas.

Their next step is to provide as fast as possible the datas from the drone directly to the CEO of the company. Their priority is to expand in emerging countries struggling with data collection.


Kingsmen coffee

Kingsmen coffee is all about helping people find the perfect coffee for themselves!


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