Accel, Elevation Capital, Lightspeed reject 'anti AI' label at conclave
At the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2026 in Bengaluru, top investors from Accel, Elevation Capital, and Lightspeed pushed back on claims that India is "anti-AI."
While they admitted India doesn't have as many big AI infrastructure companies as the US they see huge potential in areas like AI-powered apps, data centers, and energy.
As Lightspeed partner Rahul Taneja put it, "India may have just one company building foundational models. But there is a lot of opportunity in areas such as energy, data centers, connectivity, tooling, platforms and applications."
Investors say AI-native startups attract funding
Investors pointed out that the bigger opportunity could lie in how AI gets embedded across sectors and how Indian founders use the technology to solve problems specific to the domestic market.
Prashanth Prakash, Partner at Accel, said there's a clear shift toward innovation that's attracting more funding.
Elevation Capital partner Mridul Arora shared that many of their newest investments are "AI-native" companies using tech to tackle local problems.
With fresh funds like Elevation's $500 million Fund IX, it looks like India is ready to make its mark on the global AI scene.