Amazon India today announced the winners of the Amazon Global Selling Propel Startup Accelerator (Propel Accelerator) Season 2. Solethreads, EcoRight and Go Desi were named the winners of the program and 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 15 finalists presented their business propositions to a distinguished jury including Prayag Mohanty, Principal from Fireside ventures, Abhishek Mohan, Principal from Sequoia Capital India, Radhika Ananth, VP, Accel, Hariharan Premkumar, Head, India Business, DSG Consumer Partners and Preetham N, Principal, Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund and Corporate Development The panel evaluated the entries on a variety of parameters including business idea, scalability and strength of the business plan/model, business metrics in launched markets; founding team credentials and more.
“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 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.
The winner of Amazon Global Selling Propel- Season 2, Vikram Iyer, Co-Founder, Solethreads said– “We have always felt at Solethreads that our products are a good fit for customers no matter where they are and hence going global is a key part of our business strategy. Propel Accelerator has just made that journey easier and shorter for us. In the last couple of months, we have got so many opportunities to interact with industry stalwarts, VCs and peers and we have learnt a great deal from them specifically about nuances of building a global business, serving global customers with varying preferences, benefits of going directly to customers worldwide and more. We are super excited to be named winners of Propel Accelerator Season 2 and we believe this is just a start for us.”
Launched in January 2021, Amazon Global Selling Propel Accelerator is designed to help early-stage startups in the consumer products space expand globally and become international brands. As a part of the program, a cohort of select startups receive 1:1 mentorship from industry leaders, a platform to interact with investors and receive handholding support in going global. Slurrp Farm, Sirona and Wellbeing Nutrition were the winners of the program’s inaugural season in 2021.
Meghana Narayan, Co-Founder, Wholsum Foods (makers of children’s food brand Slurrp Farm) and the winner of the inaugural season said, “At Wholsum Foods, it’s always been our vision to take the supergrain millet to the world. We are committed to bringing back millets to the centre of the plate of children and families alike. Winning the Amazon Global Selling Propel Startup Accelerator last year played a pivotal role in realizing this vision. The program has helped us expand to global markets such as the US and UK, and at the same time given us the right mentorship and the right platform to ensure success in the new markets we ventured into. We look forward to taking our brand to customers in more markets across the world through Amazon’s e-commerce exports program, as part of our mission to create a global brand.”
