Strengthening its commitment to accelerate the growth of small and medium businesses in the country, Meta (formerly Facebook) announced the next edition of the VC Brand Incubator Initiative with participation from a host of VCs including Sequoia India. The VC Brand Incubator Initiative was launched in 2019 by Meta in India as an industry-first initiative to accelerate the growth of startups in the country by collaborating with venture capital firms.
This is the second time that Sequoia India is participating in the VC Brand Incubator Initiative. Surge, Sequoia India’s rapid scale-up program, participated in the program in February 2020.
Talking about the latest partnership with Sequoia India, Archana Vohra, Director, Small and Medium Businesses India at Meta said, “The startup ecosystem in India is thriving, fuelled by opportunities that the massive digital acceleration is providing for the sector. As young businesses move online and scale, we know that the need for timely business skilling becomes even more critical to enable growth. Meta and Sequoia India are both working towards the common goal of unlocking more growth opportunities for small businesses of India, and I am thrilled to have them join us for our VC Brand Incubator Initiative.”
“Early-stage companies need access to tools and services that can support their growth and learning as they scale up. Meta’s VC Brand Incubator Initiative allows these startups to access solutions and programs to aid this and we’re excited to see this take shape.” said Gayatri Yadav, Chief Marketing Officer, Sequoia India and Southeast Asia.
The VC Brand Incubator initiative is an India-focused program, and is in line with Meta’s approach of building solutions and programs to cater to the unique needs of small businesses in India. In less than three years, Meta has tied-up with fifteen VC funds and has successfully skilled, trained, and mentored more than 450 small businesses at various stages of their growth journey.
In addition to Sequoia India, Meta has partnered with 14 other VC firms including Fireside Ventures, Elevation Capital [SAIF Partners], DSG Consumer Partners, Matrix Partners, Anthill Ventures and Stellaris Ventures to name a few. Earlier this year, Meta also partnered with Lightspeed Venture Partners to upskill more than 40 young, invested businesses.
