Amazon India partners with Ketto to help sellers raise funds

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Apr 8, 2019

E-commerce major Amazon India has got into a partnership with crowd-funding platform Ketto to launch its seller-funding programme titled ‘Amazon Wings’.
 

With this partnership, Amazon India aims to 'give wings' to the sellers on its platform by helping them raise funds for their business expansion, product development, and innovation or community development. Amazon had piloted the programme with five start-ups.
 
The Amazon Wings programme will allow sellers on Amazon to launch a microsite to raise small ticket funds starting from as little as Rs 50,000 ($730) by means of crowdfunding.

Commenting on the initiative, Gopal Pillai, vice president seller services at Amazon India, in a statement said: “We are constantly trying to understand hurdles faced by sellers on the platform. Ketto will help to enable sellers to raise funds and foster innovation and new product development and empower the small business ecosystem on our marketplace.”
 
Zaheer Adenwala, co-founder of Ketto, added: "Crowd-funding can definitely play a pivotal role in helping entrepreneurs, especially businesses that foster both social impact and practical innovation. We are excited about the Amazon Wings initiative, as it allows us to reach out to a community of verified small businesses with genuine needs towards business expansion and innovation.”
 
Amazon’s India marketplace has been witnessing a steep rise in its seller base and currently has over 450,000 merchants selling on the platform. The company has been constantly innovating to increase its seller participation across the country.