BENGALURU: Amazon has set up a $250-million venture fund in India. The amount will be used to invest in local startups in the area of digitisation of small and medium businesses, agriculture, and healthcare.
The fund has led a $10-million investment in M1xchange, a digital invoice discounting startup for micro, small and medium enterprises.
The e-tailer made these announcements during a fireside chat between Amazon India head Amit Agarwal and Andy Jassy, the incoming CEO of Amazon, who will replace CEO Jeff Bezos. Jassy is currently the CEO of Amazon Web Services.
“We hope to inspire more businesses to be able to build brand new businesses (through this fund),” Jassy said.
Amazon’s venture fund announcement is part of its broader target of digitising 10 million small businesses and aiming for e-commerce exports worth $10 billion, besides creating 1 million additional jobs in India between 2020 and 2025. It has exported $3 billion worth of local goods to its overseas markets, largely the US.