AWS Commits $230 Million to Fuel Generative AI Startups

AWS Pledges $230 Million to Accelerate Generative AI Innovation

The initiative aims to empower the next generation of startups with the resources to develop and market groundbreaking generative AI applications swiftly.

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: AMZN), has announced a $230 million commitment to accelerate the development of generative AI applications by startups globally. This investment will provide early-stage companies with AWS credits, mentorship, and education, enhancing their capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies.

Empowering Early-Stage Startups with Resources

Part of this initiative will finance the second cohort of the AWS Generative AI Accelerator, a program offering hands-on expertise and up to $1 million in credits to each of the top 80 early-stage startups utilizing generative AI to address complex issues. Applications for the AWS Generative AI Accelerator are now open and will be accepted until July 19. Startups can apply [here]().

“For over 18 years, AWS has supported more startups in building, launching, and scaling their businesses than any other cloud provider—96% of all AI/ML unicorns run on AWS,” said Matt Wood, Vice President of Artificial Intelligence Products at AWS. “With this new effort, we aim to help startups launch and scale world-class businesses, providing the building blocks to unleash new AI applications that will transform learning, connectivity, and business operations globally.”

Accessing AWS Funds and Technologies

Interested startups can learn more about accessing these funds [here](). AWS credits will enable startups to utilize AWS compute, storage, and database technologies, as well as AWS Trainium and AWS Inferentia2, energy-efficient AI chips offering high performance at the lowest cost. Credits can also be used for Amazon SageMaker, a fully managed service for building and training custom FMs, and for tools to develop generative AI applications securely through Amazon Bedrock.

AWS Generative AI Accelerator Continues to Foster Innovation

The AWS Generative AI Accelerator identifies and supports top early-stage startups addressing complex challenges in sectors such as financial services, healthcare, media, entertainment, business, and climate change. Participants will engage in sessions on ML performance enhancement, stack optimization, and go-to-market strategies. The 10-week program pairs startups with industry-specific business and technical mentors and offers up to $1 million in AWS credits to develop their generative AI solutions. Participants also gain access to NVIDIA’s technology and sessions and join the NVIDIA Inception program for nurturing cutting-edge startups.

Upcoming Program Details

AWS will announce the selected startups for the second cohort on September 10, with the program commencing on October 1 at Amazon’s Seattle campus. All 80 startups will showcase their solutions to potential investors, customers, partners, and AWS leaders in December at re:Invent 2024 in Las Vegas.