Mobile edtech platform wins backing from Facebook programme 
Facebook is to give Singapore-based JobSenz $40,000 in credits and services, access to its global partners, as well as mentoring from its headquarters as part of its mobile-focused start-up programme, FbStart. Operating in its primary market, India, under its local subsidiary, Umorok Labs, JobSenz charges the coaching centres listed on its platform a percentage of income from sales of premium educational content. The founder expects the service to have a significant impact, as the majority of coaching centres in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh currently lack the facilities to build an app or provide live, online teaching materials to students.

NEW DELHI: Education technology startup

has been selected for

, the earlystage, mobile-focused startup programme launched last year by

, as it continues to woo the country’s startup ecosystem, a critical market for the technology behemoth. As part of the prestigious programme, JobSenz has received about $40,000 (about Rs 27 lakh) as credits and services from

and its partners, and will also receive mentoring from the Menlo Park-headquartered company’s engineering teams.

Also, as part of the programme, Singapore-based JobSenz, which counts India as its primary market along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, will also have access to FbStart’s community of global partners, a list that includes

,

,

and

. JobSenz, which was founded by Monish Karam last year, provides professionals and students with a platform on which coaching centres and educators can directly sell their course materials to customers.

Through its app, it also allows job seekers to search for and find jobs through its job search engine and prepare and download their resume using a multi-lingual resume builder. "Not all coaching centres across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh can have their own mobile app or web app to provide live coaching materials to their students. This creates a level playing field across all educators and coaching centres across these three countries, while also serving as a new revenue stream for them," Karam told ET.

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According to Karam, the startup’s revenue model includes charging a percentage of all sales of premium educational content by coaching centres on its mobile platform. "Apart from advertising, we are focusing on job and resume service for additional revenue sources," Karam said. JobSenz operates in India through its local subsidiary, Umorok Labs.

While FbStart is believed to have backed other India

, they are yet to publicly disclosed any names. An email sent to them did not elicit any response at the time of going to press.

However, India is a critical geography for the technology giant, given that the country has the largest base of developers working on Facebook platform outside the United States, as well as being the second largest market for the social networking platform with 125 million monthly active users as of March this year.

In August, ET had reported that the

-founded and led company has distributed more than $21 million worth benefits to startups in India and more than $50 million worth benefits to startups in Asia through its FbStart program.

The company also made its first, and sole, acquisition in India, when it acquired Little Eye Labs, which makes a software tool for analyzing the performance of Android apps, for reportedly $10-$15 million in 2014.

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