Amazon Smbhav Commits $120 Mn to Boost Indian Manufacturing, AI Startups

Amazon India has announced an investment of $120 million from its Smbhav Venture Fund to support Indian startups in manufacturing and AI. This initiative aligns with the government’s goal of establishing India as a global manufacturing hub while creating substantial employment opportunities. 

The announcement was made during the fifth edition of Amazon’s annual Smbhav summit in New Delhi, highlighting the company’s commitment to advancing India's digital and economic aspirations under the theme Naye India ki Nayi Raftaar.

Launched in 2021, the Smbhav Venture Fund began with a focus on agriculture and healthcare but has since expanded to direct-to-consumer brands, fintech, gaming, and now, manufacturing. 

With the latest funding, the Smbhav Fund grew to $350 million, aiming to digitise consumer goods manufacturing for domestic and global markets. Startups such as The Good Glamm Group, FreshToHome, and Acko Insurance, previously funded by the initiative, have demonstrated significant growth through technology adoption.

In partnership with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the fund supports the government's Viksit Bharat vision of transforming India into a developed economy by 2047. At the summit, Amazon outlined its broader ambitions for India, including digitising 10 million small businesses, generating 2 million jobs, and achieving $20 billion in e-commerce exports by 2025.

Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos headlined the inaugural Smbhav event in January 2020, announcing a $1 billion investment. During the event, Amazon unveiled its India commitments to digitise 10 million SMBs, facilitate $10 billion in exports, and generate 2 million jobs by 2025.

Amazon for Indian AI

In September, AWS selected seven Indian generative AI startups for their accelerator program and received $1M in AWS credits. The Indian startups Convrse, House of Models, Neural Garage, Orbo.ai, Phot.ai, Unscript AI, and Zocket were among the 80 companies selected globally for their use of AI and global growth potential.

The 10-week accelerator program connects startups with business and technical mentors from AWS and NVIDIA, providing them with resources to develop, train, test, and scale their AI solutions efficiently.

Besides Amazon, big tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Reliance, have vested in specific AI cohort programs to boost startups working in the space.