Amazon India launches second season of start-up mentoring programme

Amazon India on Wednesday announced the launch of the second season of its support programme for Indian start-ups aiming to reach customers around the world.

The Global Selling Propel supports early-stage start-ups in the consumer products space to get into international markets and create global brands. Participating start-ups have a chance to win an equity free grant of $100,000 from Amazon as well as free AWS (Amazon Web Services) credits worth $10,000.

The programme will provide start-ups an opportunity to present their business plans to partner VC firms Accel, DSG Consumer Partners, Fireside Ventures and Sequoia Capital India. Bollywood actor and angel investor Kunal Kapoor is a mentor in the programme.

“The Global Selling Propel Accelerator is designed to provide emerging companies an opportunity to bring their business propositions to life and create globally popular brands from India,” said Amit Agarwal, SVP - India and Emerging Markets, Amazon.

"We saw great interest, ideas and entrepreneurial spirit in the inaugural season of the program, and we are excited to now bring the season 2. It is part of our commitment to make exports easier for businesses of all sizes and enable $10 billion in e-commerce exports from India by 2025,” said Agarwal.

As part of the Startup Accelerator, Amazon has constituted a mentorship board consisting of Amazon leaders from India and across the world, VC partners and other industry leaders who will engage with emerging brands and provide them tailored resources, 1:1 mentorship and workshops on the global demand patterns and insights on building successful exports business through e-commerce.

Meghana Narayan, co-founder of Slurrp Farm and a past winner of the programme, explained how she launched children’s diet firm.

“Our focus was to cater to mothers across the world and help them feed their children nutritious food which are easy and quick to make. The Amazon Global Selling Propel Startup Accelerator last year played a pivotal role in our success, helping us create sustainable business models which helped increase brand’s value proposition and visibility in markets across the world,” said Narayan.