Why Facebook loves the mobile start-ups in India?

Soma Tah

A recent study by echoVME states that around 112 million users from India are presently on Facebook out of which around 99 million users are active on mobile- a reason that explains why Facebook is ramping up efforts to engage with the growing mobile start-ups and developers in India to make the mobile Internet experience more cohesive.

Developer initiatives:

To expand and engage this ecosystem further and create a knowledge-sharing platform, Facebook is doubling down on the investment in the country through different programs.

One important program is Internet.org initiative, where it works with the developers aggressively to capture the unreached masses, and simplify user experience for the first time users. India is also one of the important country among the 18 countries that it has gone live with. Developers who create services on this platform, become eligible for an additional set of benefits.

It has also kick-started FbStart programme last year, a program which helps early stage mobile developers around the globe, give them free access to tools and platform assistance to build, grow, and monetize their apps.

The members get a free package of tools and services valuing up to $80,000 from Facebook, Parse, and 23 third party partners including Adobe, Salesforce, BlueJeans, MailChimp, Hootsuite and UserTesting.

Does the effort pays off?

Ime Archibong, director of strategic partnerships at Facebook, who is in India now as part of FbStart tour, said "Of the $50 million in benefits distributed to Asia Pacific startups through FbStart, more than $20 million went to startups in India only."

Here are some quick facts that will explain the reason.

1. Mobile app development talent: More than 70 percent of Facebook's growing developer base are from outside the US and a growing majority of that figure belongs to India.

2. Growing start-up base: India is also the second large country outside the US, where a growing number of entrepreneurs, start-ups and developers community are working actively with Facebook to grow their business. In fact, more than 75 percent of top-grossing apps in India are integrated with Facebook.

3. Advertising revenue opportunity: Facebook also sees this as an opportunity to boost its advertising revenue in India, which is not so great compared to the US and is still grappling to stand its ground, where Google has been maintaining its stronghold.

A recent report has quoted Andy Hwang, Facebook director of small and medium-sized businesses for APAC, saying that Facebook seeks to  help small companies see how Facebook pages and advertising will help grow their businesses.

Developers who have not yet launched an app but intend to launch one can also be a part of the FbStart programme. There are separate tracks available to engage them at different stages and levels such as Pre-launch, Bootstrap, Accelerate, etc.

Facebook has signed up more than 1,000 members in Asia so far under FbStart programme in London, New York, Mexico, Hong Kong, Seoul and Taipei. It is covering Bangalore and Gurgaon this week. Around 450 members have registered for the FbStart programme, during the first leg of the event in Bangalore.