India has become a centre for AI development, boosted by events such as Mumbai Tech Week
The race to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom continues, with investors rushing to identify the AI winners of tomorrow. The latest example is venture capital firm Accel, which will today unveil the launch of a new funding and support programme aimed at Indian pre-seed businesses in the technology industry.
The program consists of two different tracks: Accel Atoms AI, which will focus specifically on AI specialists, and Accel Atoms X, for start-ups with business models built around other deeptech innovations. Start-ups selected for either program will receive up to $1 million of funding, as well as mentorship support from the venture capital firm, and introductions to the other businesses Accel funds. “The big thing for many of these founders is the community,” says Accel partner Prayank Swaroop. “It’s an opportunity to reach out for support to other founders dealing with many of the same issues and problems as them.”
Swaroop speaks from experience. This is the fifth edition of the Atoms programme that Accel has run. I first interviewed the firm in November 2022 when it announced the second cohort of the early-stage support scheme. Since then, its focus on AI has intensified, says partner Shekhar Kirani, to the extent that Accel now believes a specific program for businesses making use of the technology is justified.
“We’re starting to see a wave of AI businesses coming through that are living up to the hype around the technology,” he says. “They’re building products that deliver genuine business outcomes for customers.”
The Accel programme is India-based – reflecting the country’s growing strength in the AI sector and other deeptech specialities – but the firm is looking to invest in start-ups both inside the country and with Indian-origin founders now based elsewhere. “We are seeing a fundamental shift where Indian founders in AI are moving to global markets earlier than ever before, to be closer to their first customers,” Swaroop adds. “These founders understand that while AI is borderless, execution isn’t.”
He points to firms supported by Accel such as Rapid Claims, which is automating medical coding work in the global healthcare industry, and to Bridgetown Research, which is helping customers worldwide to build sophisticated presentations. In the deeptech domain, Swaroop cites Accel-backed Posha as an example of a business with global reach; the firm produces kitchen robots that help people to make meals and aims its products at Indians worldwide who want to make food from home.
Kirani argues that the role of venture capital investors in helping start-ups to become financially sustainable has to go beyond simply providing funding. “Many of these companies are run by incredibly talented technologists but they’re often lacking a business background,” he argues. “Investors’ support is needed to help them build commercially viable companies.”
That can be particularly important for the deeptech businesses that Atoms X will support. Many of these businesses are innovating at speed but have yet to develop the right products and services for their products, let alone to begin earning significant revenues. Such companies are unlikely to make the breakthrough without professional advice, as well as additional capital investment.
