Nvidia Moves Earlier Into India’s AI Startup Pipeline With New Partnerships

Nvidia is tightening its focus on India’s emerging AI startup scene, striking a series of early-stage partnerships designed to reach founders even before they formally incorporate their companies.

The chipmaker is working with investors, nonprofits, and venture firms in India to embed itself deeper into the country’s AI founder ecosystem, betting that closer ties at the earliest stages will translate into long-term demand for its computing hardware and software.

The centrepiece of Nvidia’s latest push is a collaboration with early-stage venture firm Activate. The fund plans to back roughly 25 to 30 AI startups from its $75 million debut vehicle and will provide those portfolio companies with preferential access to Nvidia’s technical expertise.

Activate focuses on what founder Aakrit Vaish describes as “inception investing,” engaging with technical teams months before company formation and staying closely involved as they mature into formal startups. The firm aims to serve as an early filter for high-potential AI teams and then connect them directly with Nvidia engineers.

According to Vaish, Nvidia’s engagement with Indian startups has historically been lighter-touch than in the U.S., but the company is now seeking to work with founders much earlier in their journey. Through Activate, those founders can tap into Nvidia’s guidance on how to build and scale products on top of its compute stack.

Activate’s backers include several prominent technology and investment figures: venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, Perplexity co-founder Aravind Srinivas, Peak XV managing director Shailendra Singh, and Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. That roster underscores the network the firm is assembling around its early-stage AI strategy in India.

The partnership is intended to sit on top of Nvidia’s broader Inception program, which serves thousands of startups globally. While Inception is wide-reaching, the Activate collaboration is pitched as a more curated track for a smaller set of India-focused AI startups that Nvidia and the VC believe have outsized potential.

For Nvidia, the rationale is clear: AI startups generally increase their consumption of compute as they grow, so being the default platform from day zero is a powerful commercial advantage. Vaish told TechCrunch that startups typically consume rising volumes of AI compute over time, and early, close technical engagement improves the odds they will keep scaling on Nvidia infrastructure.

This week’s moves build on a gradual expansion of Nvidia’s presence in India’s startup landscape. In November 2025, the company joined the India Deep Tech Alliance, a consortium of U.S. and Indian investors that includes Accel, Blume Ventures, Premji Invest, and Celesta Capital. Through that alliance, Nvidia provides strategic and technical guidance to deep-tech startups in the country.

More recently, Nvidia has also begun working with AI Grants India, a nonprofit initiative aimed at supporting early-stage AI founders, and has formed new ties with venture firms focused on the South Asian market. Together, these efforts are meant to give Nvidia multiple channels into India’s AI talent pipeline, from nonprofits and grant programs to specialist VCs.

The stepped-up activity coincides with India’s AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, which has drawn major global players including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang was scheduled to attend but did not travel, with the company citing “unforeseen circumstances.” Instead, a senior delegation led by executive vice president Jay Puri represented Nvidia, meeting with AI researchers, startups, developers, and partners on the ground.

India has become one of the fastest-growing pools of AI developers and startups globally, making it a key growth market for Nvidia’s chips and software stack. As more AI-native companies emerge from India, Nvidia is positioning itself as the default infrastructure provider by engaging when teams are still at the concept stage.

By weaving together partnerships with VCs such as Activate, grant-making nonprofits like AI Grants India, and multi-investor platforms such as the India Deep Tech Alliance, Nvidia is creating multiple entry points into India’s AI startup ecosystem. The company’s strategy hinges on a simple premise: if it helps founders build their first models and systems, those founders are likely to keep buying Nvidia compute as they scale.