Facebook Ties Up With SAIF Partners In India For SMB Ecosystem Incubator Programme

Facebook India in June 2019 had announced its VC Brand Incubator Program, a collaboration with venture capital funds to accelerate the growth of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India. Now, the social media company, on Thursday, has announced its collaboration with SAIF Partners, a venture capital company, to further boost its incubator programme. 

Besides SAIF Partners, Facebook India has earlier tied up with two other venture capital funds —Sauce.VC and Fireside Ventures. 

Talking about the latest partnership with SAIF Partners, Archana Vohra, director, small and medium businesses at Facebook India, said that through the VC Brand Incubator programme, the company has deepened its commitment to the growth of small businesses and entrepreneurship in India.

With the latest partnership, 24 more brands associated with SAIF Partners have now become a part of Facebook’s VC Brand Incubator programme. The selected startups are from sectors ranging from ecommerce, consumer goods and services, automotive, education, health and more. Moreover, startups such as Chaayos, Spinny, Airblack, Peebuddy, Skoodoo, and TheMomsCo have been part of the Facebook programme. 

Deepak Gaur, managing director of SAIF Partners, said in a press statement that the partnership with Facebook will create a platform for early-stage companies to learn from the Facebook India leadership to avoid common mistakes, create differentiated brand awareness on digital platforms. 

SMBs have become the backbone of India’s economy and a large source of new job creation in the country.

Vohra further shared that as a result of this programme, businesses from across industries and at different stages of their growth journey have experienced a measurable and positive business impact. 

The first edition of the programme was held in June 2019 in collaboration with Sauce.vc and saw participation from 25 brands of which five were women-led companies. 

How Facebook VC Brand Incubator Helps Startups?

The VC Brand Incubator is a series of events held in Mumbai, Bangalore and other key cities. Here, SMBs are provided with skilling and training sessions by Facebook experts on a range of themes and topics that helps them build their brands on the digital medium more effectively. 

So far, Facebook’s programme has skilled, trained, and mentored over 70 startups at various stages of their growth journey. The social media giant further claims that these brands have also shown considerable and measurable growth in brand awareness, sales, and profits as a result of this programme. 

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