Most incubators sit inside a university or a corporate. EdVenture Park was built around students instead. It started in April 2019, hosted by MS Education Academy, a long-running chain of education institutions in Hyderabad, and describes itself as India's first student-focused, non-academic startup incubator.
The idea: job creators
The incubator's stated aim is to replace a "placement" mindset with a "job creator" one: give students room to experiment with an idea and the guidance, sessions and workshops to take it further. Meraj Faheem joined as Director and CEO in April 2019 and is described as a co-founder of the incubator. Mohammad Lateef Memory Khan of MS Education Academy is its founder and chairman.
What the numbers say
In June 2025, EdVenture Park held a ceremony to recognise 25 of its most successful startups. The figures shared at the event, as reported by The Siasat Daily:
- 600+ students trained across 11 cohorts
- 278 startups established
- 60% of them led by women
- 57 still operating
- Rs 5 crore+ in combined annual revenue
- 3 startups above Rs 1 crore in revenue, and 4 earning Rs 50 lakh+ a year
- 400+ jobs created
Two details stand out. A majority of the startups were led by women, which is unusual for any incubator. And the survival figure is honest: 57 of 278 still operating is roughly one in five, a ratio that reflects how early-stage companies actually behave rather than a polished success rate.
Meraj's view
By the time of the 2025 ceremony Meraj had moved on to lead the Telangana Innovation Cell, and he attended as the incubator's co-founder and former CEO. "This honor from MS is a moment of pride for us," he said. "It reflects the institution's vision and relentless hard work of young minds."
Why it matters beyond one campus
EdVenture Park's model, taking students seriously as founders, now echoes in Meraj's government work: TGIC's Host Institution programme places innovation and entrepreneurship cells in colleges across Telangana. The student incubator was, in effect, a proof of concept.
EdVenture Park also connects to other Hyderabad Hustlers stories: its Founders' Fest brings student builders together each year, and MS Education Academy's founder Lateef Khan sat down with Hyderabad Hustlers for a separate conversation.
Figures are as reported on the dates shown in the sources below. Different sources give different totals because they were published at different times.
