FbStart Apps of the Year Winners and Program Updates

FbStart is our program focused on helping mobile startups worldwide succeed by providing free tools, services, partner benefits, and mentorship. I'm excited to share this year's winners of the annual FbStartApps of the Year competition that recognize the most successful mobile apps from the program. Enthusiasm for the awards was very high this year as we received over 1,000 entries from 89 countries.

Apps were judged across four principles: growth and engagement, experience and design, efficiency at scale, and leveraging Facebook’s platform. Award categories include best apps by region, best social good app, and a grand prize winner. Learn more about the winning apps below.

• App of the Year Grand Prize: VoiceTube
• Europe, Middle East, and Africa: Musixmatch
• Latin America: Emprego Ligado
• North America: RadPad
• Social Good: MedShr

Grand prize winner VoiceTube receives $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in Facebook Ad Credits, and the other winners each receive $5,000 in cash and $7,500 in Facebook Ad Credits. App submissions were judged by a panel of technology experts from Andreessen Horowitz, ChangeCorp, DeskConnect, GitHub, Facebook, and Saavn.

App of the Year: VoiceTube (Android, iOS)

Based in Taiwan, VoiceTube is a way to learn English through videos. Founded by married couple Richard Zenn and Carol Lai, the app features over 30,000 videos with features such as bilingual subtitles, an online dictionary, sentence repeat and recording. According to Richard, the video platform idea came about because “education in Taiwan teaches us reading and writing in English, but less in listening and speaking.” To learn more about VoiceTube, see our case study.

Europe, Middle East, and Africa App of the Year: Musixmatch (Android, iOS)

Bologna, Italy-based Musixmatch is a crowd-sourced lyrics catalog that syncs directly with a wide variety of apps and features lyrics in a broad number of languages.

Latin America App of the Year: Emprego Ligado (Android)

Emprego Ligado is a mobile-based recruitment platform focused on the blue-collar job market in Brazil. The app has facilitated millions of interviews for Brazilian workers, with 18% of customers getting a job offer the first day after signing up for the app.

North America App of the Year: RadPad (Android, iOS)

Based in Los Angeles, RadPad makes discovering an apartment for rent easier, safer, and more social. The app lets you rent or sublet a room in your apartment, as well as pay rent through the app.

Social Good App of the Year: MedShr (Android, iOS)

MedShr, based in London, is a global platform that enables doctors to connect with each other and discuss clinical cases in a secure place. Founded by Dr. Asif Qasim, a London cardiologist, the app has even been used by doctors in European migrant camps for Syrian refugees.

Expanded program with new partners, member tools, and worldwide events

Now entering its third year, FbStart has over 9,000 members from 137 countries around the world with 70% of the program's members coming from outside the United States. This year we're expanding the benefits available to members, and we're kicking off an FbStart event series in over 20 cities around the globe. FbStart membership updates include:

• New partners: Amazon, DocSend, and Pitchbook. We've also onboarded new partners for our Social Good members, including ChangeCorp, M4 Global Partners, and Phone2Action. You can see a full list of the new partners and details on new tracks and packages at FbStart.com.
• Monthly office hours: Online access to different Facebook teams to help startups build products with our developer tools and discuss common startup challenges with our experts
• Global Event Series: From now through the end of the calendar year we'll visit new markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America to host FbStart events and meet with the local developer communities. If you're an FbStart member, you'll receive more information soon on dates and how to attend when we visit the following cities

  • June: Bangalore, Gurgaon, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta
  • July: Boston, Chicago, New York City, Toronto
  • August: Bogota, Mexico City
  • September: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle
  • October: Miami, Sao Paulo
  • November: Amsterdam, Berlin, Cape Town, Dubai, Lisbon, London, Istanbul, Paris, Tel Aviv

If you're interested in joining FbStart, you can apply for the program directly at FbStart.com. If you're already an FbStart member, you'll be hearing from us shortly about how to take advantage of these new opportunities.