Hustler Words – Google is joining forces with Accel to unearth and nurture India’s next generation of artificial intelligence startups. This groundbreaking collaboration marks the inaugural initiative for the Google AI Futures Fund, launched earlier this year, signaling a significant commitment to fostering AI innovation in the region.
The partnership, announced Tuesday, will see Accel and Google jointly invest up to $2 million in each selected startup through Accel’s Atoms program, with both firms contributing a maximum of $1 million. The 2026 cohort will specifically target founders in India and the Indian diaspora who are building AI-first products.
"The core idea is to foster the development of AI products tailored for the vast Indian population, while also supporting the creation of AI solutions in India that can serve global markets," explained Prayank Swaroop, a partner at Accel, in an interview with hustlerwords.com.
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India presents a compelling market opportunity, boasting the world’s second-largest internet and smartphone user base, surpassed only by China, and a wealth of engineering talent. However, the country lags behind in frontier model development and has yet to produce a significant number of companies pushing the boundaries of AI technology, an area where the U.S. and China currently dominate.
This landscape is beginning to shift, with major players like OpenAI and Anthropic recently establishing offices in India, and global investors increasing their early-stage commitments. The prevailing belief is that India’s large, mobile-first population, expanding cloud infrastructure, and relatively low software costs could transform the nation into a thriving AI hub, provided the ecosystem can effectively translate talent and demand into original research and innovative products.
Swaroop indicated that investments will span a wide range of areas, including creativity, entertainment, coding, and the future of work. "The future of work, in this context, is all-encompassing, covering SaaS and various other applications," he told hustlerwords.com. "It could even extend to foundational models."
The firms will also focus on identifying areas where large language models are expected to advance significantly in the next 12-24 months, seeking out Indian startups that are building solutions in those emerging directions.
In addition to capital, selected founders will receive up to $350,000 in compute credits across Google Cloud, Gemini, and DeepMind, along with early access to Gemini and DeepMind models, APIs, and experimental features. The program will also provide support from Google Labs and DeepMind research teams, co-development opportunities, monthly mentorship with Accel partners and Google technical leads, and immersion sessions in London and the Bay Area, including Google I/O. Furthermore, founders will benefit from marketing support through Accel and Google’s global channels, as well as access to the Atoms founder network and Google’s AI builder ecosystem, according to the companies.
"India has a rich history of innovation, and we firmly believe that its founders will play a pivotal role in shaping the next generation of AI-driven global technology," stated Jonathan Silber, co-founder and director of the Google AI Futures Fund, speaking to hustlerwords.com. "This is the Futures Fund’s first collaboration of its kind globally, and we chose India for a reason. Google has been a dedicated partner in the country’s digital transformation journey, with multibillion-dollar investments over the years."
This partnership follows Google’s recent $15 billion plan to establish a 1-gigawatt data center and AI hub in India. The company also launched a $10 billion digitization fund in 2020, which has supported companies such as 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.
The AI Futures Fund, launched by Google in May, serves as a dedicated vehicle for investing in and collaborating with AI startups worldwide. Its portfolio includes companies like Replit and Harvey, as well as direct investments in Indian startups such as Toonsutra and STAN.
Silber told hustlerwords.com that Google will have a presence on the cap tables of startups funded through the partnership, indicating "a material presence," but declined to disclose how its equity stakes would compare to Accel’s.
"This is our effort to collaborate with the market leader in the space, who possesses deep knowledge of the country and can connect us with early-stage founders at a crucial formative stage, ultimately driving meaningful impact," Silber explained.
While the use of Google products may be a natural inclination for applicants to this program, both Silber and Swaroop emphasized to hustlerwords.com that there will be no requirement for startups to exclusively use Gemini or any other Google product.
"Sometimes, Google’s technology is the best fit. Other times, you might see Anthropic or OpenAI being used. Therefore, we are not imposing strict requirements that mandate the exclusive use of Google’s models," said Silber. "However, our hope is to identify unique integrations that we can create with these companies, leveraging Google AI technology."
Accel’s Atoms platform, launched in 2021, focuses on pre-seed and seed investments and has backed over 40 companies that have collectively raised more than $300 million in follow-on funding. This year, the firm expanded the program to include Indian-origin founders based overseas.
This latest collaboration comes shortly after Accel’s partnership with Prosus to co-invest in Atoms X, supporting early-stage Indian founders building large-scale solutions with the potential to serve the masses in the country.
Silber clarified to hustlerwords.com that Google is not structuring the partnership as a means to future acquisitions or even future cloud customers.
"We are not a sales team, so our primary goal is not to sign up new cloud customers. That is not our objective," he stated. "In terms of key performance indicators, our objective is simply to witness the next wave of innovation in the AI space emerging from India."
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