With the global industry developing around GenAI expected to evolve into a $1.3 trillion market by 2032, there is no shortage of startups vying for a piece of the pie. While existing funding structures are still driving the lion’s share of capital investments, more targeted schemes are becoming increasingly popular.
To that end, AWS has announced a $230 million commitment for global startups to accelerate GenAI app development. Aimed at early-stage startups, this funding will come in the form of AWS credits, mentorship, and AI and ML education programs.
Part of the funds will also be used to support the second wave of candidates for the AWS Generative AI Accelerator, a program that supports companies using GenAI to solve complex challenges. The AWS Generative AI Accelerator program supports the top 80 early-stage startups in GenAI and, along with industry-specific business and technical mentorship, each candidate receives $1 million in AWS credits to help build, train, test, and launch GenAI products.
Legacy of AI Excellence
“For more than 18 years, AWS has helped more startups to build, launch, and scale their business than any other cloud provider—it’s no coincidence that 96% of all AI/ML unicorns run on AWS,” said Matt Wood, vice president, Artificial Intelligence Products at AWS.
“With this new effort, we will help startups launch and scale world-class businesses, providing the building blocks they need to unleash new AI applications that will impact all facets of how the world learns, connects, and does business.”
The key is that figure: 96% of all AI/ML unicorns run on AWS. With the credits provided through its current funding commitment, startups can access leading AWS AI services such as AWS Trainium and AWS Inferentia2 AI chips, Amazon SageMaker, and Amazon Bedrock.
These are tools used by the companies leading the field in AI and ML, and this funding announcement not only ensures startups have access to the same tools as industry leaders, but that AWS holds on to the enviable position of supporting nearly all of them.
In many ways, this latest funding commitment aligns with Amazon’s strategic approach to AI education and mentorship. It builds on the November 2023 launch of the company’s AI Ready initiative, and with it, a commitment to provide AI skills training to two million people by 2025.
It’s hard to identify another technology beyond GenAI that has provided so many opportunities for mutual growth, where the service provider and the end customer both can profit from the technology.
The appetite for GenAI is such that once a company has identified a viable use case, something that is becoming increasingly difficult in this highly competitive market, it can almost guarantee a healthy customer base.
