AWS commits $230m to GenAI start-ups

Funds will help shorten time to market for new businesses

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Amazon Web Services has announced a $230 million commitment for start-ups around the world to accelerate the creation of generative AI applications. This will provide startups, especially early-stage companies, with AWS credits, mentorship, and education to further their use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies. Part of the new commitment will fund the second cohort of the AWS Generative AI Accelerator, a programme that provides hands-on expertise and up to $1 million in credits to each of the top 80 early-stage start-ups that are using generative AI to solve complex challenges.

“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 start-ups 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 AWS Generative AI Accelerator identifies top early-stage startups that are using generative AI to solve complex challenges in areas such as financial services, healthcare and life sciences, media and entertainment, business, and climate change, among others.

Participants will access sessions on ML performance enhancement, stack optimization, and go-to-market strategies. The 10-week programme will match participants with both business and technical mentors based on industry vertical. Start-ups will receive up to $1 million each in AWS credits to help them build, train, test, and launch their generative AI solutions. They will also have access to industry experts, technology, and technical sessions from Nvidia, the programme’s presenting partner, and be invited to join the Nvidia Inception programme for cutting-edge startups.

“AWS has the right combination of technology, network of partners, and potential customers in the life sciences space that made it the best fit to support our vision of building the next generation of AI models for drug discovery,” said Dr Nima Alidoust, CEO and co-founder of Vevo Therapeutics, an AI-driven biotechnology startup building the world’s first platform to generate high-resolution, single-cell in vivo data in living organisms at scale. “Participating in the AWS Generative AI Accelerator programme provided us with valuable opportunities to tap into this community and to leverage AWS’s infrastructure and expertise in scaling model training and development.”

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