Adam Nanjee has joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help grow its venture capital efforts in Canada. Nanjee took on the role after nearly four years as the Canadian managing director of Microsoft for Startups.
Nanjee announced his new role via LinkedIn on Tuesday. “I firmly believe that Canada has some of the world’s best technology and startups,” he wrote. “In my new role, AWS will bolster its investments and partnerships alongside top Venture Capital firms across the country to invest in, develop, and scale the best-in-class startups across all industries.”
Nanjee will be responsible for building partnerships between venture firms and AWS.
According to Nanjee’s LinkedIn page, as the head of venture capital for Canada, he will be responsible for building partnerships between venture firms and AWS in order “to scale and invest in the best-in-class startups leveraging AWS.”
As a subsidiary of Amazon, providing cloud computing services to individuals, companies, and governments, AWS has long worked with startups in various capacities. AWS offers startup programs that include a partner network that provides support from product development to sales, and accelerators that provide capital to participants.
AWS has run startup programs in Canada in the past, with a notable presence at this year’s Collision conference. However, Nanjee is the first person to hold the head of venture capital role in Canada at AWS.
At Microsoft, Nanjee helped to launch Microsoft for Startups in Canada. He also led the efforts behind the launch of Microsoft’s first Canadian Reactor hub location, which is one of only seven around the world.
During his tenure, Nanjee oversaw Microsoft for Startups penning partnerships with startup hubs across the country, from the BC Tech Association to Volta.
Prior to Microsoft, Nanjee worked at Zafin (later acquired by Accenture) and was head of FinTech innovation at MaRS Discovery District. He has also held roles at Mastercard and BlackBerry.
Feature image courtesy of Adam Nanjee.