Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has launched a new Mixed Reality (MR) program in India with a grant of $250,000 to support the startups and developers in the country in building applications and experiences on Meta’s Presence Platform.
The program aims to foster innovation and establish an ecosystem for extended reality (XR) technologies in the country. Selected participants will receive financial grants, mentoring, and guidance from Meta Reality Labs experts, along with the opportunity to join Meta’s developer ecosystem and upload their products to the Quest App Lab.
The Presence Platform, a collection of machine perception and AI capabilities, plays a crucial role in Meta’s vision of the metaverse and making virtual experiences more accessible. By incorporating features like Passthrough, Scene Understanding, Spatial Anchors, and Voice SDK, developers can create immersive experiences on the Meta Quest Platform.
Sandhya Devanathan, the Vice President for Meta in India, emphasized the company’s commitment to building the XR ecosystem in India and providing tangible opportunities for Indian developers to go global with their innovations. The program is open to both established and new startups and encourages experimentation with the Presence Platform’s capabilities.
In addition to the financial grant and guidance, selected startups will have the chance to connect with local venture capital funds, further fueling their growth and expansion. Meta’s move to launch this program in India coincides with the growing interest and investment in the mixed reality space, with other tech giants like Apple also announcing their plans in this field.
Meta’s Presence Platform offers a suite of technologies and design elements that enable developers to seamlessly blend virtual content with the physical world. The company highlights that some Presence Platform capabilities are already integrated into popular apps on the Quest platform, showcasing the potential for creating compelling mixed reality experiences.
With India poised to have the world’s largest developer base by 2024, Meta’s initiative is a recognition of the need to nurture emerging technologies and drive innovation within the country. By providing funding, mentorship, and exposure to the developer community, Meta aims to accelerate the growth of the XR industry in India and support the creation of cutting-edge applications and experiences.
The program is currently accepting applications, and Meta encourages developers to leverage the Presence Platform’s capabilities and unleash their creativity in the realm of mixed reality.