Google and venture capital firm Accel have announced a strategic partnership to identify and support early-stage artificial intelligence startups in India. This collaboration marks the first initiative under Google’s newly established AI Futures Fund.
Under the agreement, both parties will invest up to $2 million per selected startup (with each contributing up to $1 million). The program will cover both local Indian companies and AI projects founded by the Indian diaspora abroad.
In addition to financial support, startups will gain access to Google’s ecosystem, including $350,000 in credits for using Google Cloud and Gemini models, collaboration opportunities with Google DeepMind researchers, and participation in events in London and San Francisco.
Google officials emphasized that accepted startups will not be required to exclusively use Google products and can freely utilize technologies from competitors such as OpenAI or Anthropic. The primary goal of this partnership is to support globally scalable innovations emerging from India.
This initiative underscores Google’s commitment to the Indian market. Previously, the company established a $10 billion fund for digitalization in India, invested in major telecom players like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, and recently announced plans to build a large-scale data center in the country.
