Google, Accel Partner To Back Early Indian AI Startups

Google’s AI Future Fund is partnering with venture capital firm Accel’s pre-seed investment programme Atoms to launch a new India cohort, aiming to fuel the next wave of pre-seed AI innovation.

Through Atoms AI Cohort 2026, Google and Accel will co-invest in India’s ambitious founders who use AI in areas of optimising work, creativity, software engineering and entertainment. Applications to be a part of this programme closes on January 26, 2026.

Google said in a statement, “We are looking for founders ready to think big and build bold.”

The cohort will be a three-month customised programme, where founders will get an investment of up to $2 Mn and up to $350K in credits from Google (including Cloud and Gemini), with early access to DeepMind’s advanced models, along with expert mentorship with hands-on support from engineering, product and GTM specialists, and more.

“With Google, we’re creating a ready stack of resources to help Indian founders build and scale globally from day one. We’re helping remove the barriers that have traditionally limited early-stage AI builders and creating a launchpad for category-defining companies,” Accel partners Prayank Swaroop and Shekhar Kirani said in a joint statement.

Accel Atoms, launched in 2021, has been backing innovative early stage AI startups in India. Following that, Accel expanded the Atoms programme to include two distinct tracks – Atoms AI and Atoms X.

Notably, Atoms AI mentioned that it has begun looking for startups across the globe founded by Indian-origin founders from this year.

The ticket size of investments via Atoms AI was up to $1 Mn, with perks of about $5 Mn from OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, Google, Stripe and such, along with mentorship from global AI operators.

Last year, Accel backed Revvolution AI, Zingle and BPRHub via the Atoms AI cohort. 

Accel has also recently partnered with global investment firm Prosus in October, to hunt for early stage Indian deeptech startups via its Atoms X programme. Without disclosing the ticket size of investment, Accel mentioned that founders will obtain a “single cheque” investment approach to integrate early-stage discipline with late-stage scale and patient capital.

Meanwhile, Google unveiled the 20 startups selected for the 2025 cohort of its “Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First” programme, in September, where the selected startups will undergo a three-month “equity-free” programme.