Facebook joined hands with early-stage venture capital fund Matrix Partners for scaling small businesses in India and provide them on-time digital skilling support.

Previously, Facebook announced a grant of $4.3 million (Rs 32crore) for 3,000+ small businesses in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru areas under COVID-19 impact.

This tie-up with Matrix Partners is a part of Facebook’s VC Brand Incubator Programme, that collaborates with venture capital funds for helping early-stage SMBs in maximizing their digital presence.

Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, Facebook’s initiative of continuous skilling and supporting small and medium-sized businesses is highly impressive.

Archana Vohra, Director, Small and Medium Businesses, Facebook India, said, “Facebook is committed to supporting the growth of small businesses in India, and this charter is stronger than ever as we work towards enabling their recovery from the pandemic.”

Facebook’s tie-up with Matrix Partners India completes one year. During this period, it collaborated with six VC Funds - Sauce.VC, Fireside Ventures, SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital, DSG Ventures, and Matrix Partners India.

The tie-up has skilled, trained, and mentored 150+ brands which are at different stages of their growth journey.

Matrix Partners India, being a leading early-stage investor, partners closely with SMBs in sectors of consumer technology, business-to-business, enterprise, and fintech.

It previously invested in Ola, Quikr, Practo, Dailyhunt, Mswipe, Country Delight, and Razorpay.

Sanjot Malhi, Director, Matrix India, said, “We’ve been early backers in many challenger brands from across the spectrum — eCommerce, gaming, CPG, neo-banking, healthcare, content – to name a few, and we’re thrilled to see them create world-beating products and leverage Facebook’s platform to reach their end consumers, and bring about large scale impact. Over 20 companies from our portfolio, including Country Delight, Stanza Living, OZiva, ManMatters, Zupee, The Whole Truth, Dealshare, have now partnered with Facebook on this programme.”

Facebook, as a part of the VC Brand Incubator Programme, has started Campaign Lab for helping direct-to-consumer small businesses for affording creative solutioning support, which can go live with mobile-friendly creative and strategy in just 72 hours.