Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a commitment to invest $230 million in supporting generative AI startups globally. This initiative aims to accelerate the development of innovative AI applications and bring them to market faster. The AWS Generative AI Accelerator program will include 80 early-stage startups that utilize generative AI to solve complex challenges.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), is set to boost the development of generative AI applications with a $230 million support pledge. This investment will provide early-stage startups with AWS credits, mentorship, and training to enhance their use of AI and machine learning (ML) technologies. A portion of this commitment will fund the second cohort of the AWS Generative AI Accelerator, which offers hands-on expertise and up to $1 million in AWS credits to each of the top 80 early-stage startups. Applications for the program are open until July 19 and can be submitted at AWS Generative AI Accelerator.
Matt Wood, Vice President of AI Products at AWS, stated, “For over 18 years, AWS has helped more startups launch, build, and scale their businesses than any other cloud provider. The fact that 96% of all AI/ML unicorns run on AWS is no coincidence. With this commitment, we are providing the building blocks necessary for startups to develop new AI applications that will transform how the world learns, connects, and conducts business.”
Interested startups can find more information on accessing these funds at AWS Generative AI. AWS credits can be used to access AWS computing, storage, and database technologies, as well as energy-efficient AI chips like AWS Trainium and AWS Inferentia2. These credits can also be utilized for Amazon SageMaker, a fully managed service for building and training foundation models (FMs), and Amazon Bedrock, which provides tools and models for building generative AI applications securely and easily.
Supporting the Creation of Successful Startups
The AWS Generative AI Accelerator Program identifies top early-stage startups using generative AI to tackle complex challenges in areas such as financial services, healthcare and life sciences, media and entertainment, business, and climate change. Participants will access sessions on improving machine learning performance, stack optimization, and go-to-market strategies. The 10-week program will connect participants with business and technical mentors relevant to their industries. Each startup will receive up to $1 million in AWS credits to help build, train, test, and launch their generative AI solutions. Additionally, participants will gain access to NVIDIA’s industry experts, technology, and technical sessions and be invited to join the NVIDIA Inception program, designed to support cutting-edge startups.
AWS will announce the selected startups for the second cohort on September 10, with the program beginning on October 1 at Amazon’s Seattle campus. All 80 participating startups will be invited to present their solutions to potential investors, customers, partners, and AWS leaders at re2024 in Las Vegas this December.