Meta To Support 100 Indian Developers With $1 Mn Fund

Facebook parent Meta has partnered with industry body FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) and NeGD (National e-Governance Division) to boost India’s developer ecosystem. The US-based tech giant will provide a $1 Mn fund to launch a fellowship programme to back 100 Indian developers within the immersive technologies and make a deeper push into the metaverse.

The XROS (XR Open Source) programme will provide fellowships, stipend and mentoring to developers who will make contributions to open-source projects related to the XR technology. According to Meta, these next-gen developers will lay the foundation for affordable, localised and India-specific solutions.

Previously, Meta had also launched a $2 Mn fund to partner with India’s IT ministry backing 40 emerging startups from Web3, blockchain, AI and metaverse.

“The metaverse won’t be built by one company alone. Through programmes like XR Open Source, we will support Indian developers working on these exciting technologies. With their talent, insight and effort, we hope to ensure the next generation of internet technologies are built in an open, collaborative and accessible way,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s global affairs president said in a statement.

According to a report by Global Newswire, the global augmented reality systems market is projected to soar to $88.4 Bn by 2026. To grab a large piece of this market, Meta has been running initiatives including extending support to open source initiatives such as the No Language Left Behind (NLLB) initiative and the LeARn Program to train 40,000 students in augmented reality (AR). It also launched a programme to train more than 10 Mn students and 1 Mn educators in immersive technologies over the next three years. 

The fund comes shortly after Meta laid off 13% of its workforce in one of the biggest layoff exercises undertaken by a tech company across the globe. While there were no country-specific numbers out yet, several Indians shared their layoff stories and woes, showcasing a high number of layoffs in the country.

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