Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund Research
Investment Thesis
Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund (ASVF) is Amazon's India-dedicated venture fund, launched in 2021. It backs technology-led startups that unlock the potential of Digital India. Its site says it invests across sectors, with a particular focus on small business digitization, artificial intelligence, healthcare, agri-tech innovations, and physical AI and deep-tech. The fund began with a focus on agriculture and healthcare. Over the following years it widened to direct-to-consumer brands, fintech, gaming and, from December 2024, consumer goods manufacturing.
Stage Focus
The fund describes itself as investing in early-stage, technology-led startups and high-quality entrepreneurs. Its portfolio spans a wider range, from growth-stage companies such as Acko, Cashify and Kredivo to consumer brands. The firm publishes no formal stage grid, so stage preferences are an inference and not a stated policy.
Check Size
No check size is published. It is left unset in the structured profile. The fund was announced at $250M in 2021 and expanded by $120M in December 2024 to a total of $350M.
Lead Tendency
Not stated publicly. Recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
- December 2024: Amazon committed an additional $120M, taking the fund to $350M, aimed at startups that digitise consumer goods manufacturing in India for domestic and global demand. This was announced at the fifth Smbhav summit in New Delhi.
- March 2026: CB Insights lists RAS Luxury Skincare (RAS Beauty) Series B as the latest investment, with 14 investments in its own count.
- The portfolio page shows 25 companies, with a roughly even split between active holdings and exits.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists 25 companies. Active holdings include More Retail, smallcase, Orange Health Labs, Acko, Astro (Indonesia quick commerce), M1xchange, Upstage (South Korean LLM company), XYXX, Kredivo, Cashify, FreshToHome, Innovist, Nat Habit, Fix My Curls, RAS Beauty and the National Payments Corporation of India. Axio is marked acquired. Exits are Shoppers Stop, BankBazaar, Hopscotch, FitterFly, Quess, ToneTag, plus two exits shown without a logo (QW, a prepaid wallet and gift card program, and SH, an urban office-commute transport provider). Press also cites The Good Glamm Group as a funded company.
Team
- Abhijeet Muzumdar: Vice President and Head of Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund
- The site lists an investment team of 10, a finance team of 3 and a business development team of 3. Named investment team members: Ronak Sandil, Preetham N, Karthik Srinivasan, Mayank Nandwani, Asmita Mittal, Bhargav Desai, Aadit Shah, Harshit Jain, Ishan Das. The page gives no titles for them.
Decision Process
Not published. As a corporate venture fund of Amazon, it likely follows Amazon's internal approval processes, but that is not stated anywhere checked.
Founder Preferences
The site says it wants to back "the next generation of world-changing companies" and "category defining companies". Beyond capital, it offers a scaled VC team, Amazon's global reach, commercial opportunities across Amazon's business verticals, access to the Amazon ecosystem including mentorship, PR and marketing, and long-term aligned capital. Founders who can use Amazon's retail, logistics, cloud and devices businesses are the natural fit.
Geographic Focus
India first. Some portfolio companies operate elsewhere in Asia: Kredivo in Southeast Asia, Astro in Indonesia and Upstage in South Korea. The firm's own web domain is asvf.in; the amazon.in URL supplied with the task is Amazon's retail site, not the fund's.
Sources
- https://asvf.in/ and https://asvf.in/portfolio and https://asvf.in/team
- https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/small-business/amazon-smbhav-venture-fund-120-million-investment-manufacturing-ai-startups
- https://www.cbinsights.com/investor/amazon-smbhav-venture-fund
