Social networking major Facebook has given benefits of around $21 million to Indian developers as part of its FbStart initiative. This is part of the $50 million worth of benefits the company, which has more than 70 per cent of its developers outside the U.S., is distributing in the Asia-Pacific region.
FbStart is a programme launched last year to help early-stage mobile start-ups build and grow their applications. Under this, Facebook runs two tracks called ‘Accelerate companies’ and ‘Bootstrap companies’ and for which it will provide software and tools worth $80,000 and $30,000 respectively to developers.
As part of its plan to reach developers across the world, FbStart is being organised across 20 cities to meet mobile developers. In the Asia-Pacific region, FbStart was organised in countries like Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and India.
In India, the event is being organised in Bengaluru and Gurgaon. In Asia, Facebook has more than 1,000 members as part of the FbStart programme.
“Asia Pacific is a huge region, where we a huge base of youngsters who are using our platforms to develop application. This makes this region a huge focus area, India is a significant market in this region,” said Ime Archibong, Strategic Partnerships Director, Facebook.
Hyderabad-based Samosa and Delhi’s Cardback are two Indian beneficiaries of the programme. Using Samosa offers a curated collection of clips from popular movies that people can share with their friends, including punchlines, proverbs, witty responses, and song clips. Cardback helps cardholders and wallet users identify their best ways to pay and maximize their rewards and savings for every transaction they make.
With millions of people still not yet connected to the internet around the world, there is a huge opportunity for mobile developers to build some of the first experiences people have with the Internet.
“There’s an amazing opportunity for India-based developers to work with Facebook to grow their businesses, and we are doubling down on our investment in the country through programs like FbStart and the Internet.org Platform,” he added.
