Venture capital firm Accel is partnering with Google’s AI Futures Fund to launch Atoms AI Cohort 2026, which is aimed at backing early-stage Indian AI startups with deep technical and financial support. Under the programme, Accel and Google will co-invest up to $2 million in each selected company, $1 million each, marking one of the largest early-stage AI commitments in the country.
The programme will also offer $350,000 worth of compute credits across Google Cloud, Gemini, and DeepMind, along with early access to the latest Gemini and DeepMind models. Jonathan Silber, co-founder and director of Google AI Futures Fund, said startups will get hands-on co-development support from Google DeepMind researchers, engineers, and product managers, alongside Accel’s mentorship network.
What did Siber say?
“This is a mix of capital and compute, including direct technical support from some of the best minds at Google DeepMind as well as the best business minds at Accel,” Silber said during a media roundtable. “We think this is really an essential formula for building a world-class AI company.”
Beyond funding, the programme offers co-marketing and global visibility through Google and Accel’s networks, giving startups “a global platform from day one”. However, both parties noted that founders will have complete flexibility in model choice and can build using Gemini or any other models that best suit their use cases.
What did Prayank Swaroop say?
The new cohort aims to back AI innovation for “billions of Indians,” while helping Indian founders build globally competitive products. “We’ve gone from multi-industry cohorts to industry-specific cohorts such as Industry 5.0 and AI. This one is about helping and surfacing Indian innovation for Indians, how billions can be impacted by AI as well as innovation from India for the world,” said Prayank Swaroop, partner at Accel.
Silber said that India was chosen deliberately for Google’s first such collaboration worldwide. “We firmly believe India’s founders will play a leading role in defining the next era of global technology. This partnership allows us to back the country’s most promising AI talent and fuel the next wave of innovation from India for the rest of the world,” he said.
When asked how the cohort will identify “frontier” companies, Swaroop said originality and deep problem-solving would be key. “We’ve seen a lot of copycats in AI. We’re looking for companies that show original thinking, not wrappers on top of Gemini, but agentic systems and proprietary data solving deep, niche problems,” he explained.
At the beginning of the year, Accel closed its $650 million fund VIII, aimed at backing India’s next-gen startups in AI, consumer tech, fintech, and manufacturing.
