MeitY Teams Up With Meta To Support Extended Reality Startups In India

The MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) Startup Hub has partnered with social media giant Meta to launch an accelerator programme to support extended reality (XR) startups in the country. 

The term XR is colloquially used for technologies involving machine-human interaction ranging from augmented reality (AR) to virtual reality (VR). It also covers upcoming technologies such as Metaverse, mixed reality (MR), computer-mediated reality, among others. 

“This collaboration is part of the government’s efforts for skilling in emerging and future technologies,” MeitY said in a release.

Citing India’s large talent pool of developers and creators, the ministry said that India is uniquely placed to play a pivotal role in the development of Metaverse. “The world looks to it (India) for supplying technology, innovation and talent to cater to the greater demand for digital products,” the release added.

The collaboration is the brainchild of MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) which is focused on promoting technology innovation, startups, and creation of intellectual properties in various areas. As many as 3,161 startups and 473 incubators are currently registered with the MSH. 

Focus On Emerging Technologies 

The announcement is part of the government’s efforts to promote emerging technologies. As part of this, it has established centres of excellence for Internet of Things in Gandhinagar, Bengaluru and Gurugram. The government has also established research and innovation centres for VR, gaming, VFX, blockchain, among other domains. 

In April, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) announced a partnership with US-based semiconductor giant Qualcomm to spur local startups. Besides, MeitY also announced a tie-up with Google to develop safety initiatives for Indian users and to help spur local startups building apps.

India is home to a host of AR and VR focused companies including gaming company JetSynthesys, AR-based learning platform Practically, homegrown manufacturer of mixed-reality 3D glasses AjnaLens, among others. 

Earlier this month, the ministry also said that it would provide all necessary support to startups, particularly growth-stage startups. In total, MeitY plans to accelerate and support more than 10,000 startups in the next 5-6 years under its GENESIS (Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups) programme, largely from Tier-II, III cities.

Apart from this, it also launched SAMRIDH (Startup Accelerators of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development and Growth) in August last year to support the overall startup ecosystem. The initiative aims to provide support and funding to early-stage startups. 

Under this scheme, MeitY has already partnered with 22 accelerators and will match the contribution of venture capital (VC) funds in the startups selected for support. As part of this, it has also inked a pact with deal syndication platform LetsVenture to invest in early-stage startups. 

India currently has over 73,000 startups, including 107 unicorns, according to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). 

The global augmented reality systems market was pegged at $14.7 Bn in 2020 and is projected to soar to $88.4 Bn by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 31.5%. The demand for AR/VR devices is largely led by various sectors such as retail, ecommerce, among others. Meta’s pivot to the Metaverse has also attracted global investor interest in the field, which has led to mushrooming of AR and VR based startups across the globe and in India.