iWorld
Facebook & TLabs tie up to fortify mobile-based start-ups’ analytics & monetisation
MUMBAI: Facebook and TLabs accelerator have partnered to strengthen the mobile startup ecosystem in India. Both Facebook and TLabs have a strong focus and expertise on Internet and Mobile businesses, and will build on the knowledge and learnings of in-house senior mentors to engage and educate budding entrepreneurs.
As part of this partnership, they will co-host multiple events for solving startups’ issues around user experience, analytics, app installs, monetisation and more.
Facebook will also provide FbStart referral codes to TLabs for use by TLabs’s mobile portfolio companies. FbStart is a global program designed to help mobile startups build and grow their apps. Startups with a live mobile app on Google Play/iOS stores or a working Messenger bot can apply for the FbStart Program and membership is awarded to selected start-ups, post a review from the Facebook team.
These startups will receive ad credits from Facebook and benefits from more than 30 partners, including AWS, Dropbox, SalesForce and MailChimp. Along with these benefits, startups in the FbStart program will also get support and mentorship from Facebook’s product experts and join an exclusive community of global start-ups.
TLabs COO Abhishek Gupta said, “It’s an incredible step by Facebook for the mobile ecosystem, and start-ups would be highly benefited from being a part of the Facebook global community.”
Facebook India head – product partnerships Satyajeet Singh commented that partnering with TLabs was a progressive decision towards creating an empowered start-up ecosystem in the country.
iWorld
Snapchat parent Snap cuts 16 per cent of workforce in AI-driven restructuring
The Snapchat parent is axing around 1,000 jobs and closing 300 open roles to save $500m, as artificial intelligence makes smaller teams the new normal
CALIFORNIA: Snap is snapping. The Snapchat parent has confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 employees, roughly 16 per cent of its full-time workforce, as it bets that artificial intelligence can do what headcount once required. Shares jumped more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on the news, a brisk vote of confidence from a market that has watched the stock shed about 31 per cent this year.
The restructuring, which also closes more than 300 open roles, follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds an economic interest of about 2.5 per cent in the company and has been loudly pushing Snap to tighten its portfolio and lift performance. The firm got what it asked for, and then some.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel told employees the cuts would reduce annualised expenses by more than $500m by the second half of the year. The company expects to incur charges of between $95m and $130m related to the layoffs, mostly severance, with the bulk landing in the second quarter. Staff in Snap’s North America team were asked to work from home on the day of the announcement.
The financial backdrop is not without bright spots. Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise around 12 per cent to approximately $1.53 billion, broadly in line with analyst estimates. Adjusted core profit for the January to March quarter is forecast at about $233m, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $186.8m.
The harder question surrounds Specs, Snap’s augmented reality smart glasses subsidiary, which Irenic has urged the company to spin off or shut down entirely. The unit has absorbed more than $3.5 billion in investment and burns through approximately $500m in cash annually. Snap is pressing ahead regardless, with a consumer product expected later this year, even as Meta leads the market in the segment.
Spiegel is betting that leaner teams, smarter machines and a consumer AR play can restore Snap’s credibility with investors who have run out of patience. The redundancy notices have gone out. The harder restructuring, the one that requires a hit product rather than a headcount reduction, is still very much pending.
