Amazon on Thursday announced a $250 million venture fund to invest in Indian startups and entrepreneurs focusing on digitization of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the key overseas market.
The announcement comes at a time when the American e-commerce group, which has previously invested over $6.5 billion in its India business, faces heat from government bodies, and the small and medium-sized businesses that it purports to serve.
Through the new venture fund, called Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund, Amazon said it wants to invest in startups that focus on helping small businesses come online, sell online, automate and digitize their operations, and expand to customers worldwide. The company didn’t share the lifecycle of the fund (that is, how long it plans to take to run through $250 million).
“Small and medium businesses are the engine and lifeblood of economies,” said Andy Jassy, incoming CEO of Amazon at a virtual event Thursday. “We are passionate about accelerating SMBs.”
Amazon said it has led a $10 million investment round in M1xchange, a three-year-old…
