What is Google's 'AI First' program for Indian start-ups?
What's the story
Google has started accepting applications for the 'Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First' program, in India. The initiative, backed by the MeitY Startup Hub, is aimed at accelerating artificial intelligence (AI)-driven innovation in the country. Specifically, it focuses on agentic and multimodal technologies that are expected to play a major role in India's future adoption of AI.
Market growth
India's AI market projected to exceed $17B by 2030
India's AI market is growing at a breakneck pace, with the generative AI space expected to go beyond $17 billion by 2030. Not to mention, AI is also expected to be instrumental in helping India meet its ambitious $1 trillion digital economy target by 2028. As part of this national digital vision, the Indian government has also launched the IndiaAI Mission, recognizing AI as a strategic priority.
Program
Program to support AI-focused startups
Google's accelerator program is aimed at supporting Seed to Series A stage start-ups that are building core AI technologies. These include foundational models, reasoning systems, multimodal use cases, and advanced AI applications. The chosen start-ups will get access to a wide range of resources as well as mentorship throughout the program.
Benefits
Start-ups to benefit from mentorship and infrastructure access
Participating start-ups in the accelerator program will get personalized support and mentorship from various Google teams, including Health, DeepMind, Cloud, Android, Ads, etc. Weekly sessions driven by Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) will be conducted to help firms meet their growth and product objectives. Eligible start-ups will also get free access to cloud TPUs (Tensor Processing Units), cloud credits as well as advanced AI tools like Gemini, Gemma, Imagen, and Veo.
Previous success
Successful outcomes from last year's accelerator program
Last year's Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First program helped participating start-ups raise over $61 million in funding. They also received a lot of visibility via the Google Cloud Marketplace. Successful participants included SpotDraft, which leveraged the Gemini API to improve contract management by 30% and reduce costs by 80%. Meanwhile, Kroop AI increased user engagement by 40% with its deepfake detection tech, and Merlin AI improved chat as well as document processing for its two million users.