Amazon’s Venture Fund To Invest $120 Mn In Manufacturing, AI Startups

SUMMARY

Amazon India has pledged to invest $120 Mn (around INR 1,018 Cr) in startups that digitise consumer goods manufacturing and cater to both domestic and global demand

The investment will be made through the Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund as part of an MoU signed between the ecommerce major and DPIIT

Launched in 2021 with a corpus of $250 Mn, Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund initially concentrated on agriculture and healthcare but has since expanded its scope to cover D2C, fintech, gaming, and now the manufacturing sector

Ecommerce giant Amazon India has pledged to invest $120 Mn (around INR 1,018 Cr) in startups that digitise consumer goods manufacturing and cater to both domestic and global demand.

The investment will be made through the Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund as part of a memorandum of understanding signed between the ecommerce major and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

At the fifth edition of its annual Smbhav Summit, Amazon said the partnership is aimed at accelerating the government’s key priority of establishing India as a global manufacturing hub and creating thousands of jobs.

“As one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, India is a key market for Amazon and our focus areas align well with the government’s vision and priorities of digitising small businesses, boosting exports and creating jobs,” said Amit Agarwal, senior vice president of Emerging Markets at Amazon.

The move also marks an expansion of the Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund to $350 Mn.

Launched in 2021 with a corpus of $250 Mn, Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund initially concentrated on early-stage Indian startups across agriculture and healthcare sectors but has since expanded its scope to cover direct to consumer brands (D2C), fintech, gaming, and now the manufacturing sector.

The fund’s portfolio includes investments in startups such as The Good Glamm Group, ACKO, Cashify, Fitterfly, Hopscotch, FreshToHome, XYXX, among others.

In an effort to boost small and medium businesses, the ecommerce major has rolled out Amazon Freight and Amazon Shipping in India.

Piloted earlier this year, Amazon Freight offers streamlined full truckload freight services for intra-city and inter-city transportation to SME and D2C brands across India.

On the other hand, Amazon Shipping, which was piloted in 2021, offers last-mile D2C parcel delivery services.

Further, Amazon announced that it plans to enable $80 Bn in ecommerce exports from India by 2030, a 4X jump from the $20 Bn it earlier committed.