Why Facebook is investing so much money in Indian startups
In the last year and a half, one region has emerged as a bright spot: India.
Of the $50 million in benefits the company distributed to to Asia Pacific startups, $20 million went to mobile apps in India.
"It’s been really exciting to seen how [the program] has grown since we launched it" Deb Liu, Facebook's head of commerce, tells Business Insider. "Especially in APAC, but in India in particular."
Today — when more than 70% of developers who integrate their apps with Facebook live outside the US — India has the largest Facebook international developer community of any other region in the world. More than 75 percent of top-grossing apps in India are integrated with Facebook.
Liu gushed about one FBStart-assisted app in particular: a payments recommendation startup called CardBack. The app helps you decide which credit card you should use in any given situation based on which rewards each offers.
Cardback deomonstrates the perfect Facebook trifecta.
The app has baked-in Facebook Login, meaning that users can sign-up using their Facebook account, it drives its growth through Facebook mobile app install ads, and it monetizes via the Facebook Audience Network.
Liu says that using mobile app install ads (for free, thanks to a chunk of Facebook ad credits given to FBStart companies), Cardback increased their installs by 5x in six months.
Cardback's model of relying so heavily on the Facebook ecosystem for growth and monetization is exactly what the company wants to see from as many developers in that region as possible.
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