Amazon partners with Startup India, others to boost e-commerce exports

An accelerator programme to help early-stage startups is to be launched

Amazon on Tuesday said it has partnered with Startup India, Sequoia Capital India and Fireside Ventures to launch an accelerator programme to help early-stage startups take their brands to global audiences.

The Amazon Global Selling Propel (AGSP) programme has been designed to support early stage startups (raised funding in post seed to pre-series A stage, if funded) in the consumer products space to launch in international markets and create global brands from India through Amazon's Global Selling programme.

As part of the Startup Accelerator, Amazon has constituted a mentorship board consisting of Amazon leaders from India and across the world, VCs and senior leaders from Startup India.

The application process will be open for about three weeks, following which 10 startups would be chosen for the accelerator.

The programme will feature a six-week 1:1 mentorship module for the shortlisted participants where they will get to interact with Amazon leaders from India and worldwide and get firsthand knowledge on building and scaling up exports business through e-commerce, Abhijit Kamra, Director - Global Trade at Amazon India, said.

Amazon will provide the support for these startups to launch their products worldwide through its exports programme Amazon Global Selling, he added.

These startups will then get an opportunity to showcase their business proposition to partner VC firms Sequoia Capital India and Fireside Ventures and three of them will get a chance to win a total equity free grant of USD 50,000 from Amazon.

Amazon will also host open virtual mentorship sessions focused on peer learning by inviting veteran entrepreneurs and members from its mentorship board for startups, to network and learn from their existing ecosystem.

"The adoption of technology and digital transformation has paved the way for India to be at the forefront of innovation, giving rise to some of the best startups in the world. There are many promising, emerging brands that have the capability to become big and go global.

"This is a timely initiative by Amazon which can prove to be a big stepping stone for startups to build their business and get access to global markets, Deepak Bagla, MD and CEO of Invest India, said.

Amit Agarwal, Global Senior Vice President and Country Head Amazon India, said Amazon Global Selling is witnessing tremendous momentum with increasing interest from exporters across India.

"With Amazon Global Selling we will continue to make exports simple and accessible to businesses of all sizes and fulfill our commitment of enabling USD 10 billion in e-commerce exports from India by 2025," he added.

Launched in 2015 with about 100 exporters, Amazon Global Selling today enables more than 70,000 Indian exporters to sell 'Made in India' products through its 15 international websites and reach customers in countries such as the US, the UK, UAE, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Brazil, Japan, Australia and Singapore.

It took the programme three years to hit cumulative exports of USD 1 billion and grew 100 per cent to hit the next USD 1 billion in the next 18 months to cross the USD 2 billion milestone in cumulative exports from India.

The programme is rapidly boosting exports from India and helping build global Indian brands. In 2019, more than 800 Indian MSMEs on the programme surpassed USD 131,375 (Rs 1 crore) in e-commerce exports sales.