Facebook supports six start-ups

Six start-up companies yesterday won FbStart packages at Innovation Xtreme, each worth about US$50,000 that provides access to free tools and services, ranging from Facebook credits, to free tools and services from 23 different third party partners.
In addition to advertisements on Facebook, they will also get mentorship and community support as part of the package.

The six winners are Tripooly, Let's Eat, Sheba, LightCastle Data, Repto and Chalo. Twenty-five start-ups participated in the Innovation Xtreme session, organised by SD ASIA, a content and event-making platform for Bangladeshi tech start-ups.

Bangladeshi youth needs to partner with global giants to create better opportunities, Anis Uzzaman, chief executive of Fenox Venture Capital, said at the event at Radisson Blu hotel in Dhaka.

“Bangladesh should embrace innovation and entrepreneurship in the start-up segment,” he said. Fenox has already invested in three local companies since opening its office in Dhaka.

By 2020, more than 75 billion devices will be connected to the internet around the world, and the online economy's size will be $1.9 trillion, where Bangladesh could play an important role, Anis Uzzaman said.

There are more than 5.83 crore active internet connections in Bangladesh, and more than 13 crore active SIMs.

“People are increasing their utilisation of the internet with increasing digitisation of our lives, and we need more local content for that,” said Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone.

The one-day event showcased the potential of existing innovators and entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, said Mustafizur Rahman Khan, chief executive and founder of SD Asia.

“By bringing international and local investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses under one roof, the event works as a catalyst to deepen the interest about the internet-based local economy,” he added.

All participating start-ups received Microsoft's BizSpark/YouthSpark packages worth $10,000.