Five Tech Giants Betting Big on India: Amazon, Facebook & Others

Facebook’s FbStart Supports Indian Mobile Developers

In May 2014, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) launched FbStart, a program that offers mobile developers across the world free tools and services to assist their startups succeed. An article posted by Business Insider in August 2015 discussed the success of the program with Facebook’s Head of Commerce and Platform, Deb Liu. The article reveals that $20 million of the $50 million in benefits channeled into Asia Pacific startups funded mobile apps in India. Back in August 2015, when at least 70% of developers integrating apps with Facebook came from outside the United States, India was the largest Facebook international developer community in the entire world. Even though only a small portion of India’s population is online, the world’s second-most populous country has the third-largest number of internet users in the world. Meanwhile, the social networking giant recorded 125 million users in India in mid-2015, representing Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)’s second-biggest market globally. Adage Capital Management, founded by Phillip Gross and Robert Atchinson, owns 3.55 million shares of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) as of March 31.

Microsoft’s Accelerator Program in India Bears Fruit

Earlier this month, Bangalore-based HealthifyMe, a mobile health and fitness startup that graduated from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Microsoft Ventures accelerator program, announced that it had raised $6 million from IDG Ventures India, Inventus Capital and Blume Ventures. HealthifyMe, which launched as a calorie counter app in 2013, was founded by Tushar Vashisht, Sachin Shenoy, Mathew Cherian and came back to Microsoft Ventures India a few years ago to assist other startups achieve success. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Accelerator Program in India has been assisting startups in fields such as live music, gaming, data security and healthcare develop and grow. While it is not entirely clear how much the tech giant benefits financially from supporting these startups at this point in time, Microsoft Ventures definitely plays a role in the future economic and entrepreneurial development of India. Through its mentor-driven accelerator program, Microsoft assists entrepreneurs in building a sustainable business, gaining customers and scaling to global markets. First Eagle Investment Management, overseen by Mehdi Mahmud, is the owner of 23.62 million shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) as of the end of March.