Category: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

To celebrate the voices of Black employees at AWS and amplify their work’s impact, we are honored to share the stories of eight AWS employees working to advance Black entrepreneurs in ways that strengthen Black businesses and support economic growth in historically underserved Black communities.

In October 2022, Amazon launched its Catalytic Capital initiative, investing $150 million in funds to underrepresented entrepreneurs. Now, AWS is further accelerating the conversation through strategic partnerships and data-driven reporting with the publication of the State of Black Venture Report, launched Tuesday at the 2023 State of Black Venture event hosted by BLCK VC at the AWS Startup Loft in San Francisco, California.

Fresh off the success of the inaugural Amazon Web Services (AWS) Impact Accelerator for Black founders, AWS is continuing its $30 million commitment to provide underrepresented founders with the resources, capital, and community they need to level the startup playing field. Today, meet the 25 women founders selected from a competitive field of applicants and chosen by a diverse committee of AWS Startups experts who are changing the startup landscape with their next idea.

Serial entrepreneur Monica Sarbu explains why celebrating diversity and empowering people is the key to success. Learn how her commitment to building with diversity from Day One has guided startup Xata to a $5 million funding round.

In April, we announced a 3-year, $30 million commitment to the AWS Impact Accelerator, a series of programs is designed to help high-potential, pre-seed startups led by underrepresented founders succeed. We also launched the first of these programs, the AWS Impact Accelerator for Black Founders, and today we’re excited to announce the startups that will make up this inaugural cohort. Meet the startups, and learn more about this exciting opportunity.

Learn more about the new program that will provide up to $225,000 in cash and credits for early stage startups led by Black, women, Latino, and LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs, as well as training, mentoring, and technical guidance. Then hear from three founders about what access to capital and resources means for the next generation.

Co-Founded by CEO Julie Despraz, Swedish startup Alloverse has developed an open-source platform for virtual collaboration that is being used to build the spatial internet. The company’s platform and tools enable users to create virtual workspaces and 3D applications to populate them. We recently sat down with Despraz to chat VR, sustainability, and celebrating even the smallest of wins.

Hiring the right people for your startup is one of the most important things that you will do as a founder. Beyond finding product/market fit, it’s probably the most important thing that you’ll do. Before joining AWS, I’d interviewed and hired a bunch of people as the CEO and Co-Founder of the live event startup Shortcut. Amazon, however, is the only employer that has actually taught and trained me how to properly interview and hire. I’d now like to share some of those lessons here because I think they are critical and particularly applicable to startups.