Alphabet’s Google and venture capital firm Accel will partner to fund at least 10 early-stage Indian AI startups. This marks the US technology giant’s first such funding partnership. Top executives at the companies made this announcement on Thursday.
The move comes as several US tech firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and OpenAI target the world’s most populous nation. This region is seen as a critical growth market. Nearly a billion users access the internet there.
Under the partnership, Google’s AI Futures Fund and Accel will co-invest up to $2 million in each startup. Prayank Swaroop, a partner at Accel, shared this information during an interview with Reuters. The investments will focus on the wide areas of entertainment, creativity, work and coding.
The announcement comes after Google made a statement in October. The company said it would invest $15 billion over five years. This investment is to set up an AI data centre in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It marks Google’s biggest-ever investment in the country.
Its AI Futures Fund was launched six months ago. It has funded over 30 companies. These include the Indian webtoon startup Toonsutra and the United States-based legal-tech firm Harvey.
Google has partnered with India’s largest telecom operator, Reliance Jio. They are providing free access to Gemini AI for 505 million users.
“We firmly believe that the founders in India will play a leading role. Jonathan Silber is the co-founder and director of Google’s AI Futures Fund. He said they are going to define that next era of global technology.”
“… we think that it’s critical to invest in the early stage. We focus on key markets like India. This helps us be at the forefront of investing in the next generation of AI leaders.”
India’s AI market is projected to reach $17bn by 2027, according to IT industry body Nasscom and consulting firm BCG.
Global AI spend is seen at nearly $1.5 trillion in 2025, and will exceed $2tr in 2026, as per market research firm Gartner.
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