Google has partnered with Accel in a first-of-its-kind collaboration to support India’s earliest AI startups, marking the Google AI Futures Fund’s debut partnership with a venture firm. The companies will jointly invest up to $2 million per startup through Accel’s Atoms program, with each contributing up to $1 million. The 2026 cohort will focus on founders in India and the Indian diaspora building AI-native products.
Targeting AI Built in India for Local and Global Markets
India remains an attractive market with deep engineering talent and the world’s second-largest internet user base, but the country has produced few frontier AI research companies. Activity is now accelerating as OpenAI, Anthropic, and global investors expand their presence.
Accel partner Prayank Swaroop said the program will look across categories — from creativity and entertainment to SaaS, coding tools, and even foundational models — identifying areas where large language models are likely to advance in the next one to two years.
Capital, Cloud Credits, and DeepMind Access
Alongside funding, selected founders will receive up to $350,000 in compute credits across Google Cloud, Gemini, and DeepMind. They will also gain early access to models, APIs, and experimental features, plus support from Google Labs, DeepMind research teams, Accel partners, and Google’s technical leads.
Programs include immersion sessions in London and the Bay Area, including Google I/O, as well as marketing support and access to Accel’s Atoms founder network.
Jonathan Silber, director of the Google AI Futures Fund, said India’s long history of innovation made it the first country chosen for such a collaboration. Google’s recent commitments — including a $15 billion plan for a large-scale AI data center hub and a $10 billion digitization fund — reinforce its expanding presence in the country.
No Exclusive Requirement To Use Google Models
While founders will be exposed to Gemini and DeepMind tools, neither Google nor Accel will require startups to exclusively use Google products. Silber said startups may use whichever models — including Anthropic or OpenAI — best fit their needs.
Google will appear on the cap tables of the selected startups and be “a material presence,” though it did not disclose how its equity stakes will compare with Accel’s.
Growing Momentum in India’s Early-Stage AI Funding
Accel’s Atoms platform has backed more than 40 companies since 2021, which have collectively raised over $300 million in follow-on funding. The firm recently partnered with Prosus on Atoms X to support Indian founders building large-scale domestic solutions.
Silber said Google is not structuring the partnership as a route to acquisitions or cloud-sales pipelines. The objective, he said, is simply to help spark the next wave of AI innovation coming from India.
Featured image credits: Adarsh Chauhan
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