Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund is now focusing on investing in Indian startups in the gaming space. The fund is also looking to diversify into the electric vehicle (EV), agritech, and healthcare sectors.

When the fund was launched in 2021, it was mainly focused on SMB digitization, agritech innovation, and healthtech sectors. With the rise in popularity of the online gaming sector in recent years, many companies and investors are now giving attention to it.

During an interview with inc42, head of Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund, Abhijeet Muzumdar said, “In addition, the fund has expanded its focus areas to invest in technology startups focusing on fintech, electrification, ecommerce services, consumer brands, machine learning, gaming, and social media innovators.”

“The idea is to invest in areas where we can positively influence the proliferation and growth of small businesses. We remain committed to investing behind multiple new and emerging areas that are seeing a high degree of innovation and entrepreneurial energy,” he added.

Amazon has already been investing into the online gaming sector long before it became mainstream in India. It currently owns the most popular streaming platform for gamers, Twitch.

The company also has its own gaming platform called Amazon Games and recently introduced Amazon Prime Gaming in India. Along with the regular Prime service, the subscribers can get access to free games and in-game rewards every month.

Many automotive companies have also announced the addition of casual cloud gaming services to their EVs at CES 2023. With Amazon’s announcement of their focus towards EVs and gaming, people can also expect an announcement of similar additions by them too.

The Indian gaming sector is one of the fastest growing in Asia. According to a report by Dentsu Gaming, the number of gamers in India will reach 700 million in FY25. Female gamers account for more than 46% of the gaming population in India.

The government recently added esports in multi-sports event category and announced MeitY as nodal ministry for online gaming. MeitY has released the draft rules that will be used as the building blocks for regulating the online gaming sector, and are currently open for public consultation.