Google teams up with Accel to hunt for India’s next AI breakouts

Google has partnered with Accel to find and fund early-stage AI startups in India in a first-of-its-kind collaboration for the Google AI Futures Fund, which was launched earlier this year.

On Tuesday, Accel and Google announced a partnership to jointly invest up to $2 million in each startup through Accel’s Atoms program, with the two companies contributing up to $1 million. The 2026 cohort will focus on founders in India and Indian diaspora who have been building AI products from day one.

“The thought process is to build AI products for billions of Indians, as well as support AI products built in India for global markets,” Priyank Swaroop, partner at Accel, told TechCrunch.

India is an attractive market with the world’s second-largest internet and smartphone base after China and deep engineering talent. However, it is also a country that lacks frontier model development and has not produced many companies pushing the technical boundaries of AI, as development remains concentrated in the United States and China.

However, activity is starting to shift, with major companies including OpenAI and Anthropic recently announcing offices in the country, and global investors ramping up their early-stage commitments. The bet is that a large mobile-first population, expanding cloud infrastructure, and relatively low software costs could turn India into a meaningful market for AI — if the ecosystem is able to translate talent and demand into original research and products.

Swarup said investments will be directed towards almost any field: creativity, entertainment, programming and business. “The future of work here is more inclusive, and it’s basically SaaS and all the other applications,” he told TechCrunch. “They can even be foundational models.”

Companies will also try to identify areas where big language models are likely to advance in the next 12 to 24 months and look for Indian startups that are moving towards these trends, Swarup said.

Along with the capital, founders will receive up to $350,000 in compute credits across Google Cloud, Gemini, and DeepMind, as well as early access to Gemini and DeepMind models, APIs, and experimental features. The program will include support from Google Labs and DeepMind research teams, co-development opportunities, monthly mentorships with Accel partners and Google technical customers, and immersion sessions in London and the Bay Area, including Google I/O. The founders will also receive marketing support through Accel and Google’s global channels, as well as access to Atoms’ founder network and Google’s AI building ecosystem, the companies said.

“India has an incredible history of innovation, and we firmly believe that its founders will play a leading role in the next generation of global technology driven by AI,” Jonathan Silber, co-founder and director of the Google AI Futures Fund, told TechCrunch. “This is the first collaboration of its kind for a Futures Fund anywhere in the world, and we chose India for a reason. Google has been a committed partner in the country’s journey towards digital transformation, with billions of dollars in investments over the years.”

This partnership comes on the heels of Google’s recent $15 billion plan to build a 1 gigawatt data center and artificial intelligence center in India. The company also announced a $10 billion digitization fund in 2020, which backs companies including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Walmart-owned Flipkart. Last month, Google partnered with Reliance to provide millions of Jio users with free access to AI Pro.

Google launched the AI ​​Futures Fund in May as a dedicated way to invest in and collaborate with AI startups globally. It has backed companies like Replicate and Harvey, and has also invested directly in Indian startups like Tonsotra and Stan.

Silber told TechCrunch that Google will appear on cap tables for startups funded through the partnership and will have a “material presence,” but he declined to share how its stock stakes compare to Accel’s.

“This is our attempt to work with a market leader in this space who knows the country incredibly well, who can get us talking to early stage founders at an early media stage, who can move the needle,” Silber said.

Although using Google products may be a given for applicants to this program, both Silber and Swaroop told TechCrunch that there will be no requirement for startups to use Gemini or any other Google product exclusively.

“Sometimes, Google’s technology is the best. Other times, you’ll see Anthropic or OpenAI. So, we don’t set strict requirements that you can only use Google Forms,” ​​Silber said. “But what we hope to do is find a number of different unique integrations that we can do with these companies that leverage Google AI technology.”

Atoms, Accel’s seed and seed funding platform, launched in 2021 and has backed more than 40 companies that have collectively raised more than $300 million in follow-on funding. The company expanded the program this year to include founders of Indian origin residing abroad.

The latest collaboration comes days after Accel partnered with Prosus to co-invest in Atoms X, supporting early-stage Indian founders to build large-scale solutions with the potential to serve audiences in the country.

Silber told TechCrunch that Google is not structuring the partnership as a path for future acquisitions, or even for future cloud customers.

“We’re not a sales team, so we’re not specifically looking to sign up new cloud customers. That’s not our goal,” he said. “In terms of KPIs, our goal is simply to see the next wave of AI innovation coming from India.”