Nvidia is ramping up efforts to attract India’s artificial intelligence startups earlier in their lifecycle, unveiling a series of partnerships this week aimed at reaching founders even before their companies are officially established. The push is intended to help the artificial intelligence chipmaker cultivate relationships with future customers in one of the world’s fastest-growing developer markets.
The latest move comes via a partnership with an early stage venture firm Activatewhich plans to back about 25 to 30 AI startups from its $75 million debut fund, while giving portfolio companies privileged access to Nvidia’s technical expertise. The partnership follows other India-focused efforts unveiled this week, including a partnership with nonprofit AI Grants India to support early-stage founders and new ties with venture capital firms focused on the South Asian nation.
The flurry of activity comes as India hosts the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, attracting leading tech companies including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was scheduled to attend, but skipped the event due to what the company described as unforeseen circumstances. A senior delegation led by executive vice president Jay Puri attended in his place, meeting AI researchers, startups, developers and partners on the ground.
India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing pools of artificial intelligence developers and startups, making it an increasingly important market for Nvidia as it seeks to expand adoption of computer chips and software. By working more closely with early-stage founders, the company is positioned to capture the long-term demand at scale for new AI companies.
Aakrit Vaish, founder of Activate, said Nvidia’s engagement with startups in India has historically been relatively light compared to the US, but the chipmaker is now looking to work with founders much earlier in their journey. Activate aims to capitalize on this shift by connecting portfolio startups directly with Nvidia experts.
The VC firm, which Vaish describes as focused on “seed investing,” meets technical teams months before the company is formed and works closely with them as they grow. Its backers include venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, Perplexity co-founder Aravind Srinivas, Peak XV CEO Shailendra Singh and Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, underscoring the prominent network Activate is gathering around its early-stage strategy.
For Nvidia, the logic behind partnering with an early-stage venture firm is clear: the earlier it builds relationships with promising AI startups, the more likely those companies will rely on its computing infrastructure as they scale. Vaish told TechCrunch that growing startups typically consume increasing amounts of AI computing over time, making early technical engagement valuable to the chipmaker as a way to build future business.
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Nvidia already has a fairly large presence in the country through its Opening schedulewhich supports more than 4,000 startups in India. This week, the chip maker too expanded local ecosystem linkagesincluding partnerships with venture firms such as Accel, Peak XV, Z47, Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners to identify and fund AI startups. It has separately partnered with AI Grants India, co-founded by Vaibhav Domkundwar and Bhasker (Bosky) Kode, to support more than 10,000 early-stage founders over the next 12 months.
The company has also expanded its reach into startups in India over time. In November 2025, Nvidia joined the India Deep Tech Alliance, a consortium of US and Indian investors including Accel, Blume Ventures, Premji Invest and Celesta Capital, to provide strategic and technical guidance to emerging startups in the country.
Vaish said Activate’s partnership with Nvidia is designed to provide a more curated layer above the company’s broad-based Inception program, which serves thousands of startups worldwide. Acting as an early filter for high-potential technical teams, Activate aims to give its portfolio companies more direct and timely access to Nvidia’s engineering expertise.
The increased activity underscores the intensifying competition among global tech companies to attract AI developers and startups to India, which has become one of the fastest-growing technical talent pools outside the US
