Facebook Partners With Nasscom To Scale Up Startup Ecosystem In India By 10X

Social media giant, Facebook, has collaborated with NASSCOM’s 10,000 start-ups initiative in an attempt to scale up the startup ecosystem in India by 10 times.

With this partnership, Facebook and NASSCOM will launch a new program for developers and students called ‘Leaders Building for the Next Billion’. This program will help developers and students who are building large-scale innovative apps and mobile websites for new-to-internet users by providing them with technical & financial support and resources.

Selection Criteria

For developer:

• Through an application process, 10 developers who have demonstrated a commitment to build for new-to-internet populations will be accepted to a six-month program.
• The developers will be provided with technical, marketing & financial support and leadership skills, to build their applications and businesses.
• They will also be connected to industry leaders (CEOs, thought leaders, VCs, ecosystem evangelists, social change leaders, etc.), funders and the media to bring public attention to their commitment, solutions and impact in order to inspire other developers.

For Student Leaders:

• Students (4 students per college across 10-15 colleges) will be selected through an application process.
• Selected students will have to build mobile applications relevant to the next billion and lead engagement with engineers, designers and other students on campus who are interested in applying their talent to build mobile applications relevant to the next billion.

The participants will also qualify for $80K worth of support through our FBStart program and additional ad credits to build their business.

Related: How Facebook Wants To Boost Startup Activity & Innovation In India

Inviting Applications

Interested participants in either of these programs can fill out the form here. The website will be updated with the application and program details by Oct 31st and applications will be due by Dec 30th.

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