AWS appoints Sriram Santhanam as head of Startup Business for India

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has appointed Sriram Santhanam as the head of Startup Business for India. In this role, Santhanam will drive AWS’ strategy for startups across India, with a focus on enabling innovation, accelerating cloud adoption, and strengthening collaboration with founders and venture-backed companies.

His mandate includes guiding startups on architectural excellence, go-to-market enablement, and transforming ideas into commercially successful, long-term ventures.
With over 25 years of experience in B2B sales leadership, Santhanam has worked across industries and business models. Over the past four years at AWS, he has led the expansion of the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) business, managing one of the largest portfolios and driving growth across horizontal and vertical SaaS businesses. 

His expertise in cloud transformation and SaaS innovation will be central to AWS’s efforts to advance startup engagement in India, helping companies navigate the complete lifecycle—from platform resilience and security to scaling GTM strategies.

This leadership appointment comes at a pivotal moment for India’s digital economy, as startups increasingly leverage cloud and AI to accelerate growth and unlock global competitiveness, the company said in a statement. 

India is home to more than 157,000 DPIIT-recognized startups and over 123 unicorns across diverse sectors, making it the third-largest globally. With cloud, AI, and SaaS-led innovations driving the next phase of digital growth, AWS is focused on empowering startups to scale faster, innovate at speed, and view AWS as a strategic partner in their journey.

In related news, in July, AWS launched a new programme called the AWS Space Accelerator: APJ 2025, aimed at supporting startups in Australia, New Zealand, India, and Japan that are working on space technology. The 10-week initiative will help up to 40 selected startups by providing them with resources, expert advice, and technical support to develop their ideas and grow their businesses using AWS tools.