Amazon Prime unveils reality show for Indian start-ups competing to raise unicorn funding

FILE PHOTO: The logo of streaming service Amazon Prime Video is seen in this illustration picture

Amazon Prime Videos is producing a reality web series where Indian start-ups will compete to raise a unicorn funding round at a time when such high valuation investments have dried up in the country's start-up ecosystem, the streaming service said on July 12.

While Prime Videos did not reveal the date when the series will be aired, a senior executive said that the first season of the series would have 10 episodes and is already under production.

"As storytellers we believe there is nothing more gripping than stories of the determination of entrepreneurs," said Aparna Purohit, Head of Originals at Amazon Prime Videos India.

To be sure, Molbio Diagnostics was the last unicorn to be minted in the Indian start-up ecosystem in September last year. Since that time, the United States Federal Reserve's interest rate tightening regime has led to private start-up investments falling 80 percent in India.

Moreover, growth and late stage investments have become a strictly no-area for venture capital firms as they are looking to wait out the funding winter to let valuations temper down from pandemic-era highs and see which companies can improve their profitability during these hard times.

Amazon Prime Videos said that artificial intelligence-led scientific innovation for grassroots level development will be a focus for the web series, which is being made in association with the Indian government's Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA).

"Unfortunately we don't have a large number of incubators and accelerators. The number right now is 650 and it should increase as we go along," said Ajay Kumar Sood, PSA of the Indian government.

"Structured incubation provides many avenues to seed and sustain start-ups... We have to give a helping hand to start-ups to help them sustain," Sood added.