Amazon and Startup India come together to help emerging brands access global markets

When Amazon first launched Amazon Global Selling back in May 2015, it promised to be a gamechanger since it allowed Indian businesses to expand their business to the world. Sure enough, the program that started with about 100 exporters, today enables over 70,000 Indian exporters to sell millions of ‘Made in India’ products to customers worldwide.

Now, we’re taking it up a notch with the launch of Amazon Global Selling Propel (AGSP), a startup accelerator program designed in partnership with Startup India. AGSP will help early-stage start-ups in the consumer products space to launch in international markets and create global brands from India through Amazon’s Global Selling program.

Amazon has put together a mentorship board consisting of Amazon leaders from India and across the world, VCs and senior leaders from Startup India. This board will engage with emerging brands and provide them tailored resources, 1:1 mentorship on the global demand patterns and insights on building successful exports business through ecommerce. 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.

Amit Agarwal, Global Senior Vice President and Country Head Amazon India said, “Amazon Global Selling, our flagship program to grow Exports from India is witnessing tremendous momentum with increasing interest from exporters across India. Our partnership with Startup India to launch this accelerator program will provide emerging brands an opportunity to bring their business propositions to life and help create globally popular brands from 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 $10 billion in e-commerce exports from India by 2025.”
The accelerator program will provide startups a chance to showcase their business proposition to partner VC firms – Sequoia Capital India and Fireside Ventures. The top 3 winners will get a total equity free grant of $50,000 from Amazon.

“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.” said Mr. Deepak Bagla, MD & CEO, Invest India.

The entries for the startup accelerator open today until 7^th February 2021. The interested startups can log on to http://www.amazon.in/propel and complete their application. Early stage startups in the consumer products space (raised funding in the post seed to pre series A stage, if funded) with a vision to expand their business to global markets can apply to be a part of the accelerator program. The entries will be evaluated by an Amazon led panel on the basis of the business idea, scalability and strength of the business plan/model, business metrics in launched markets, founding team credentials amongst others. Ten shortlisted applicants will be inducted into the startup accelerator. The program 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 ecommerce.