Indian startups in FbStart Program
Facebook has selected six Indian startups for FbStart Program this year. This includes:
- Edurev: Edurev is an edtech startup founded by Kunaal Satija and Hardik Dhamija in 2014. It has created a generic technology in Education which helps in learning and teaching. Other Edtech startups selected for FbStart program includes Exam Spirit, XPrep and Knudge.me.
“Facebook is biggest internet company on the planet and we have looked up to it since the start of our journey. To be chosen by them for their startup program makes us really excited as we can get into a hyper growth phase now,” said Kunaal Satija, Founder, Edurev.
“With their marketing support, we can reach almost 8 million in traffic from the present 1.5 million within the next six months. And further with the improved infrastructure, we can serve u pto 50 schools at one time. We are really looking forward to making an impact together,’’ he added.
- my HQ: my HQ is a startup that curates spaces inside cafes, restaurants, offices and converts them into hassle-free work zones for entrepreneurs, independent freelancers and mobile corporate professionals. It is run by JustWork Technologies Pvt. Ltd and was founded by IIT Delhi graduates Utkarsh Kawatra and Vinayak Agarawal seven months ago.
- BookBhook: Founded in August 2016, BookBhook is an app that posts short summaries of non-fiction books, which take 10-15 minutes to read. The company is planning to launch video summaries and cocktail summaries (minute-long summaries) on Instagram soon.
- HopBucket: HopBucket is an app that allows users to plan their trips and share their experiences. It also works offline to provide information and suggestions on nearby places. Users can upload photos and create a travelogue to share with other travelers.
- Athletto: Athletto is a sports tech startup operated by Bengaluru-based O Tree Solutions Pvt Ltd. For users, it offers information about each facility that includes photographs, coach information, prices, timings, contact details, map, ratings and reviews. For owners, it provides a business app and dashboard to help them manage the facility listing, facility booking, membership, coaching services and complete analytics solutions.
- Finpin: The platform provides users with a dedicated certified financial planner, who can respond to the queries via mail or phone. This startup provides benefits such as personalized dashboards, 24×7 access to finpin via Android app and web portal, reports & reminders on ‘To Do’ action points.
The selected startups will receive credits up to $40,000 and free tools and services from Facebook and its more than 30 partners including Amazon, UserTesting, Dropbox, and MailChimp. Besides partners, it will get free access to more than 25 services including open source tools like React Native, FB Login and Account Kit and App Analytics.
Other Indian startups selected for FbStart Program includes entertainment content aggregator, Flickstree, dating app, Heartonnect, content discovery social network, Flicksup, immunization management platform, vImmune, peer-to-peer content platform of moms and moms-to-be, Healofy, and job search and educational content platform, JobSenz.
Why Facebook is investing in Indian Startups?
According to The Statistic Portal, India has the highest number of Facebook users that came online as of May 2016. India is leading with 195.16 online users, United States being second in the list with 191.3 and Brazil is third with 90.11 users. Whereas, in 2015, India was the second largest country to go online on Facebook with 125 million users.
There is a whopping rise in the Facebook users in India which clearly gives social media platform a growing market in the country. Perhaps, the company is aiming at training developers to innovate more on their platform an make a user interface closer to home.
