Meta Platforms is looking at India’s burgeoning startup ecosystem as it bolsters its bet on the metaverse. The social giant has partnered with India’s IT Ministry’s start-up center to launch an accelerator in the country to scale up innovation in emerging technologies, including augmented reality and virtual reality, officials said on Tuesday.

The MeitY Startup Hub and Meta effort, called the XR Startup Program, will work with 40 early-stage startups and assist them in research and development and in developing viable products and services. Each startup will also receive a grant of more than $25,000, the American giant said.

The program, supported by Meta’s $50 million XR Programs and Research Fund, will initially hand-select 80 startups to attend a boot camp. Will…