Driving growth for startups through the Facebook Accelerator program

Facebook’s focus has long been to bring people together and build community. We remain committed to the startup ecosystem and believe that by connecting, training, and growing entrepreneurs and startups through our programs, Facebook can empower people to solve relevant, meaningful problems. Over the past several years, Facebook Accelerator programs have run in various countries, helping startups scale effectively through immersive and locally-tailored training. The program provides 1:1 mentorship from Facebook employees, training on Facebook’s approach to products and businesses, and access to a global network of startup peers, successful founders, and industry experts. This year, we are excited to announce the launch of two new Accelerator programs - Facebook Accelerator: Connectivity & Facebook Accelerator: Commerce. These 12-week programs will take on a new format and will be completely virtual sprints with a focus on product themes and exploration of collaborative partnerships to provide even more value for startups.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the hard truth of the digital divide and the critical need for reliable, affordable internet connectivity. Over the years, Facebook Connectivity has, together with hundreds of partners around the world, developed new ways to bring fast, reliable internet to those without it. The Facebook Accelerator: Connectivity program will strengthen emerging startups focused on the same goal of bringing more people online to a faster internet.

Facebook Accelerator: Connectivity is for startups in the Americas that are focused on improving connectivity through technologies, solutions, and new models that address the availability and affordability of internet access. Selected startups will have the opportunity to receive mentorship from Facebook Connectivity to help scale their impact. For example, during Facebook Accelerator London, at LDN_LAB earlier this year, Gaius Networks, a social media startup providing connectivity and access to hyper-localized content in emerging markets, worked closely with our Facebook Connectivity team and industry experts to bring connectivity to over 100,000 people. Applications for Facebook Accelerator: Connectivity open on August 3rd, and we’re looking forward to providing this new innovative cohort with access to resources, industry experts, mentors, and potential investors.

In addition to connectivity, Facebook is accelerating our commerce work and building solutions to help businesses of all sizes that are being forced to change their model and adapt to selling online. Our goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from an entrepreneur to the largest brand to use our apps to connect with customers. Facebook Accelerator: Commerce is for startups in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East building on commerce platforms, innovating solutions around catalog functionality, and enhancing the overall commerce experience through conversational tools and immersive shopping experiences. To continue the momentum of all the great work to date from startups in our programs, we will be launching two Facebook Accelerator Commerce programs that will run concurrently and will be available to selected startups. Applications for Facebook Accelerator: Commerce in open on August 3rd.

Jumper.ai, a conversational commerce platform focused on helping businesses manage conversing with, selling to, and supporting their customers on their preferred channels, is an alumni of the Facebook Accelerator program. The Facebook Accelerator program paired the Jumper.ai team with Facebook experts that helped them define product roadmaps, solve UX issues, refine sales and marketing strategies, and rework price models. Taking the lessons learned and goals achieved with the Accelerator program, Jumper.ai’s client base grew by 10x. The startup has gone from approximately 1,000 brands to over 15,000, which includes over 30 major enterprises.

At Facebook, we strongly believe that by connecting, training, and growing entrepreneurs and startups through our programs, we can empower people to solve relevant, meaningful problems. We aim to build products that billions of people can use and benefit from. We hope you’ll join our global community of innovators and take your startup to the next level by applying to the Facebook Accelerator program via the links below:

• Facebook Accelerator: Connectivity (Americas)
• Facebook Accelerator: Commerce (Latin America)
• Facebook Accelerator: Commerce (Europe, Middle East, Africa)

To continue to stay up to date on Facebook startup programs launching check out developers.facebook.com/startups and follow @FacebookforStartups.