Amazon India announced the winners of the Amazon Global Selling Propel Startup Accelerator (Propel Accelerator) Season 2. The winners were named as Solethreads, EcoRight and Go Desi and they have cumulatively got $100K in equity free grant from Amazon and $300K in AWS Activate credits.
The Propel Accelerator provides dedicated support to emerging Indian businesses and startups in the consumer products space to launch in international markets and create global brands from India through Amazon’s Global Selling program.
The second season of Propel Accelerator was launched in February 2022 in partnership with Accel, DSG Consumer Partners, Fireside Ventures and Sequoia Capital India.
More than 1000 startups and emerging brands from across India had applied for the Propel Accelerator, out of which, top 15 were selected as finalists including Almo, Avishkaar, Belora, EcoRight, Eske, Go Desi, Greencure, Hathmic, IVEI, Masterchow, Minimalist, Shumee, Sleepy Owl Coffee, Solethreads and The Artment.
“The Indian startup ecosystem has transformed India into a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. Digitization has propelled the democratisation of access and opportunity for Indian businesses. I would like to commend Amazon for this program that is at the intersection of three important Govt priorities – startups, technology adoption and boosting exports. I am sure programs like Propel Accelerator will help us tap the vast potential of emerging businesses and MSMEs to make an indelible mark in global market.”, said Deepak Bagla, MD & CEO, Invest India while announcing the winners of Propel Accelerator season 2.”
Amit Agarwal, SVP India and Emerging Markets, Amazon commented on this and said “We created the Propel Accelerator with a vision to take India’s entrepreneurial innovation, global. We are truly excited about the innovation and passion we have seen and would like to congratulate the winners and all the finalists of Season 2 of the program. The true success of the Propel Accelerator reflects in the growing number of startups and D2C brands adopting it to launch in global markets. This program is a key part of our pledge to enable $20 billion in cumulative exports by 2025 and contribute to the government’s vision of taking local, global.”
As part of the Propel Accelerator, Amazon had constituted a mentorship board consisting of Amazon leaders from India and across the world, VC partners and others who engaged with the finalists through focused workshops, 1:1 mentorship on the global demand patterns and insights on building successful exports businesses through e-commerce. Amazon also hosted open virtual mentorship sessions focused on peer learning by inviting veteran entrepreneurs and members from its mentorship board for startups, to network and learn from their existing ecosystem.
