Facebook India announced an industry-first initiative of collaborating with Venture Capital (VC) funds to accelerate the growth of the small and medium businesses (SMBs) in which the venture capitals have invested. The social network service company which claims to have 90 million small business partners globally, will now invest in the Indian ecosystem.
For the first edition of the program, Facebook is working with Mumbai-based Sauce.vc, an early-stage venture capital fund that has partnered with startups in the food and beverages, personal care, apparel, and the lifestyle space. Facebook experts will organize training and skilling sessions to help the SMBs expand their businesses through the digital medium.
Archana Vohra, director, Small and Medium Business at Facebook India, said, “With the VC Brand Incubator program we hope to unlock the potential of SMBs in India… their seamless growth can lead to consistent job creation, adding to GDP growth. Working with VC funds is crucial as it allows us to scale and support SMBs at an early stage.”
There’s a growing interest among the investor community and the government to modernize and capitalize on the over 42 million enterprises that make up India’s SMB sector which contributes nearly 37% to the country’s GDP. A key goal of the Indian government is to build the ecosystem for SMB growth in the country to support 50,000 startups by 2024.
