Nvidia is stepping up efforts to woo 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 formally established. The push is intended to help the AI ​​chip maker cultivate relationships with future customers in one of the world’s fastest-growing developer markets.
The latest move comes through a partnership with early-stage venture firm Activate, which plans to back about 25 to 30 AI startups from its $75 million debut fund, while giving portfolio companies preferential access to Nvidia’s technical expertise. The collaboration follows other India-focused efforts unveiled this week, including work with nonprofit AI Grants India to support early-stage founders and new ties with venture firms focused on the South Asian nation.
The flurry of activity comes as India hosts its AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, attracting top tech companies including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was supposed to attend, but skipped the event due to what the company called unforeseen circumstances. A senior delegation led by executive vice president Jay Puri attended in his place and met AI researchers, startups, developers and partners on the ground.
India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing pools of AI developers and startups, making it an increasingly important market for Nvidia as it looks to expand adoption of chips and computer software. By working more closely with founders at the earliest stages, the company is positioning itself to capture long-term demand as new AI-native companies scale.
Aakrit Vaish, founder of Activate, said Nvidia’s engagement with startups in India has historically been relatively light-touch 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 tech teams months before company formation 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 assembling around its early-stage strategy.
For Nvidia, the logic behind partnering with an early-stage venture firm is straightforward: The earlier it builds relationships with promising AI startups, the more likely those companies are to trust its computing infrastructure as they scale. Vaish told TechCrunch that growing startups typically use increasing amounts of AI computation over time, making early technical engagement valuable to the chipmaker as a way to generate future business.
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Nvidia already has a significant presence in the country through its Inception program, which supports more than 4,000 startups in India. This week, the chipmaker also expanded its local ecosystem ties, including partnerships with venture firms like Accel, Peak XV, Z47, Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners to identify and fund AI startups. It separately partnered with AI Grants India, 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 startup reach 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 on top of the company’s broad-based Inception program, which serves thousands of startups globally. By acting as an early filter for high-potential engineering teams, Activate aims to provide its portfolio companies with more direct and timely access to Nvidia’s engineering expertise.
The increased activity underscores the heightened competition among global tech companies to woo AI developers and startups in India, which has become one of the fastest-growing pools of tech talent outside the US