Google and Accel partner to launch $2 million AI startup fund in India

Google's AI Futures Fund has entered a first-of-its-kind global collaboration with venture firm Accel to jointly fund and mentor India's earliest-stage AI startups.

The partnership will see the two firms co-invest up to $2 million in each selected startup through Accel’s Atoms program, with both Google and Accel contributing up to $1 million per company. The 2026 cohort will target founders in India and the Indian diaspora focused on building AI products from inception.

Prayank Swaroop, a partner at Accel, stated the goal is to back AI products for billions of Indians and support those built in India for international markets.

Betting on the Ecosystem

The initiative is a significant bet on India’s potential to become a meaningful AI market, leveraging its large internet base and deep engineering talent. While frontier model development is concentrated in the U.S. and China, the presence of major AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic in India signals a shifting landscape.

Investments will cover diverse areas, including creativity, coding, entertainment, foundational models, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Swaroop noted a focus on identifying startups aligning with the expected advancements in large language models over the next one to two years.

Capital and Compute Power

Beyond capital, participating founders will receive up to $350,000 in compute credits across Google Cloud, Gemini, and DeepMind. They will also gain early access to Gemini and DeepMind models, APIs, and experimental features.

The program includes support from Google Labs and DeepMind research teams, mentorship from both Accel partners and Google technical leads, and immersion sessions in London and the Bay Area.

Jonathan Silber, co-founder and director of the Google AI Futures Fund, emphasized that Google chose India for this initial global collaboration due to its history of innovation and the country's central role in the next generation of AI-led technology.

This partnership follows Google’s recent $15 billion plan for a 1-gigawatt data center and AI hub in India, alongside its earlier $10 billion digitization fund.

Silber confirmed Google will secure a "material presence" on the startups' cap tables. However, both he and Swaroop stressed there will be no requirement for startups to exclusively use Google's models, maintaining an open approach to technology use.

Silber concluded that the partnership's objective is not tied to sales or future acquisitions, but simply to "see the next wave of innovation in the AI space coming out of India."