AMAZON Web Services (AWS), a leading cloud computing platform, has committed US$230 million to empower startups worldwide in developing generative AI applications. This significant investment aims to accelerate the creation of cutting-edge AI solutions by providing startups with essential resources like AWS credits, mentorship, and educational opportunities.
“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 percent of all AI/ML unicorns run on AWS,” said Matt Wood, vice president of Artificial Intelligence Products at AWS.
A portion of this funding will be allocated to the second cohort of the AWS Generative AI Accelerator, an intensive program designed to equip early-stage startups with the expertise and resources needed to tackle complex challenges using generative AI. The accelerator offers up to US$1 million in credits to each of the top 80 selected startups, along with access to technical sessions, mentorship, and networking opportunities.
The program’s previous cohort has already demonstrated its effectiveness in fostering the growth of promising startups. Jachin Bhasme, co-founder and COO of Leonardo.AI, a participant in the first cohort, shared, “AWS has been instrumental in enabling us to scale our generative AI platform to meet the rapidly growing demand from our global user community. Their robust generative AI infrastructure helped us reduce inferencing costs by 60 percent and accelerate our language model inference speeds by up to 35 percent.”
Another startup that benefited from the program is Vevo Therapeutics, an AI-driven biotechnology company. CEO and co-founder Nima Alidoust, Ph.D., stated, “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. Participating in the AWS Generative AI Accelerator program provided us with valuable opportunities to tap into this community and to leverage AWS’s infrastructure and expertise in scaling model training and development.”
The upcoming second cohort of the AWS Generative AI Accelerator is expected to further propel the development of innovative AI solutions across various industries, ultimately contributing to the advancement of technology and its applications in society.
“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,” Wood concludes.
For startups interested in accessing these funds and learning more about the AWS Generative AI Accelerator, additional information can be found on the AWS Startups website.
