On Wednesday, Meta announced a new mixed reality (MR) program in India that includes a $250,000 grant for startups and local developers to build apps and experiences. Also Read – Here’s how the new features of the WhatsApp Business app will benefit small businesses
They can build applications using the Meta Presence Platform – the company’s broad range of machine awareness and AI capabilities of the Meta Quest Platform and the metaverse. Also Read – Malaysia is taking legal action against Meta for malicious content on Facebook
According to the company, the fund seeks to nurture innovation and build an ecosystem for XR technologies in the country. Also Read – New WhatsApp features will allow users to set pin message duration and change proxy settings
“Meta is committed to building the XR ecosystem in India. The Presence platform is an integral part of the metaverse vision, aiming to make virtual experiences more authentic and accessible,” said Sandhya Devanathan, Vice President, Meta, India.
As part of the programme, a select group of up to five Indian developers and startups will receive grant money, along with customized mentorship and mentorship from Meta Reality Labs experts.
They will also have the opportunity to upload their product to the Quest App Lab to become part of the growing ecosystem of Meta developers.
Meta said that the selected startups will also get an introduction to leading local venture capital funds at the end of the programme.
“We believe that this fund and program will accelerate the creation and adoption of VR and MR experiences in the country and give Indian developers an opportunity to go global with their innovations,” Devanathan added.
The fund is now open to applicants, inviting both established and emerging startups and developers to try out the skills offered by the Presence Platform.
Selected developers will need to integrate the Presence Platform into existing or new Meta Quest applications via features such as traversal, scene understanding, spatial anchors, co-spatial anchors, Voice SDK, Text to Speech, Interaction SDK for hand tracking and social presence APIs. company.
– Ian
