Google, Accel team up to fund AI start-ups in India
What's the story
Google has teamed up with venture capital firm Accel to back early-stage artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups in India. The effort falls under the Google AI Futures Fund, launched earlier this year. Through the partnership, each company will invest up to $1 million per start-up, a combined commitment of up to $2 million, via Accel's Atoms program.
Investment strategy
Focus on Indian and Indian-origin founders
The 2026 cohort of the program will focus on Indian and Indian-origin founders who are building AI products from scratch. "The thought process is building AI products for billions of Indians, as well as supporting AI products built in India for global markets," Prayank Swaroop, a partner at Accel, told TechCrunch. The investment will cover a wide range of areas such as creativity, entertainment, coding, work, and even foundational models.
Additional benefits
Support for AI start-ups beyond capital
Along with financial support, the selected start-ups will also get up to $350,000 in compute credits across Google Cloud, Gemini, and DeepMind. They will also get early access to Gemini and DeepMind models, APIs, and experimental features. The program will provide support from Google Labs and DeepMind research teams as well as co-development opportunities.
Long-term vision
Google's commitment to India's digital transformation
Jonathan Silber, co-founder and director of the Google AI Futures Fund, said India has an incredible history of innovation and its founders will play a leading role in the next generation of AI-led global technology. He noted that this is the Futures Fund's first collaboration anywhere in the world. The partnership follows Google's recent $15 billion plan to build a 1-gigawatt (GW) data center and AI hub in India.
Flexibility assured
No exclusive requirements for start-ups
Silber and Swaroop assured there are no requirements for start-ups to exclusively use Gemini or any other Google product. "Sometimes, Google's technology is the best. Other times, you'll see Anthropic or OpenAI. So, we're not putting firm requirements that say you can only use Google's models," Silber said. Accel's Atoms platform has backed over 40 companies that have raised over $300 million in follow-on funding since its launch in 2021.