Nvidia partners with VC firm Activate to back early-stage AI startups in India

Nvidia partners with early-stage VC firm Activate

Nvidia is partnering with early-stage venture firm Activate to back AI startups in India. The move is part of a broader push to build relationships with founders before their companies are formally established.

The chipmaker announced the partnership this week alongside other India-focused efforts. This flurry of activity coincides with the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.

A strategy to capture long-term demand

India has become one of the world's fastest-growing pools of AI developers. Nvidia is working with founders earlier to position itself as these startups scale and consume more computing power.

"Nvidia’s engagement with startups in India has historically been relatively light-touch compared with the U.S.," said Aakrit Vaish, founder of Activate. He told TechCrunch the chipmaker now wants to work with founders "much earlier in their journey."

The logic is straightforward: early technical engagement can generate future business as growing startups need more AI compute.

Activate's role and prominent backers

Activate plans to back 25 to 30 AI startups from its $75 million debut fund. Portfolio companies will get preferential access to Nvidia's technical expertise.

Vaish describes the firm as focused on "inception investing," meeting technical teams months before company formation. Its high-profile backers include:

• Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla
• Perplexity co-founder Aravind Srinivas
• Peak XV managing director Shailendra Singh
• Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Vaish said the partnership is designed as a curated layer on top of Nvidia's broad-based Inception program, serving as an early filter for high-potential teams.

Nvidia expands its India ecosystem

Nvidia already supports more than 4,000 startups in India through its Inception program. This week, it expanded local ties with several venture firms.

New partnerships include Accel, Peak XV, Z47, Elevation Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners to identify and fund AI startups. The company also teamed up with nonprofit AI Grants India to support over 10,000 early-stage founders in the next year.

In November 2025, Nvidia joined the India Deep Tech Alliance, a consortium of U.S. and Indian investors providing guidance to emerging startups.

Global competition heats up in India

The stepped-up activity highlights intensifying competition to court AI developers in India. The country is a major talent pool outside the U.S., drawing top firms like OpenAI and Anthropic to this week's summit.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was slated to attend the New Delhi event but skipped it due to "unforeseen circumstances." A senior delegation led by executive vice president Jay Puri attended in his place.

For Nvidia, the goal is clear: cultivate the customers of tomorrow in a critical, fast-growing market by getting in at the very beginning.