Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, has announced a $230M (nearly €215.23M) commitment to support startups globally in developing generative AI applications.
The firm will support early-stage startups by offering AWS credits, mentorship, and education to further their use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies.
How will the funds be utilised?
AWS will allocate funding to the second cohort of the AWS Generative AI Accelerator programme as part of this commitment. This programme provides guidance and grants up to $1M in AWS credits to each of the top 80 early-stage startups using generative AI to solve complex challenges.
Matt Wood, vice president, Artificial Intelligence Products at AWS, says, “For more than 18 years, AWS has helped more startups to build, launch, and scale their business than any other cloud provider—it’s no coincidence that 96 per cent of all AI/ML unicorns run on AWS.”
“With this new effort, we will help startups launch and scale world-class businesses, providing the building blocks they need to unleash new AI applications that will impact all facets of how the world learns, connects, and does business.”
Startups can utilise AWS credits to access AWS compute, storage, and database solutions, along with AWS Trainium and AWS Inferentia2 AI chips, known for their high performance and cost-efficiency.
Credits can also be applied to Amazon SageMaker for developing and training machine learning models, and to Amazon Bedrock for securely building generative AI applications with ease.
Applications for the AWS Generative AI Accelerator are now open and will be accepted until July 19. Startups interested in applying can do so through this link.
Supporting generative AI startups
The AWS Generative AI Accelerator programme targets early-stage startups leveraging generative AI to tackle complex challenges across sectors like finance, healthcare, media, business, and climate change.
Participants will engage in a 10-week programme featuring sessions on ML performance enhancement, stack optimisation, and go-to-market strategies.
Each startup can receive up to $1M in AWS credits for building, testing, and launching their AI solutions, along with mentorship from both business and technical experts tailored to their industry.
NVIDIA, the programme’s presenting partner, will provide technology insights and invite startups to join its Inception programme, aimed at fostering innovative startups.
Selected startups for the second cohort of the AWS Generative AI Accelerator will be announced on September 10. The programme begins on October 1 with in-person sessions at Amazon’s Seattle campus.
In December, all 80 participating startups will showcase their solutions at re:Invent 2024 in Las Vegas to potential investors, customers, partners, and AWS leaders.
Brief about AWS
Amazon Web Services, since its inception in 2006, claims to have grown into an extensive and widely adopted cloud platform globally.
With over 240 fully featured services spanning compute, storage, databases, AI and machine learning, IoT, security, and more, AWS operates from 105 Availability Zones across 33 geographic regions.
The firm plans to add 21 more Availability Zones and expand into seven new AWS Regions including Malaysia, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia.
It serves millions of customers, from startups to large enterprises and government agencies, empowering them to enhance agility, reduce costs, and innovate with robust infrastructure solutions.
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