Nvidia courts India AI startups earlier via VC deals
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- Nvidia is partnering with early-stage VC Activate — founded by Aakrit Vaish — to back 25-30 AI startups from its $75 million debut fund, with portfolio companies receiving preferential access to Nvidia's engineering expertise.
- Jensen Huang skipped the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi due to 'unforeseen circumstances'; executive vice president Jay Puri led a senior delegation that met researchers, startups, developers, and partners on the ground.
- Nvidia expanded India ties this week with VCs Accel, Peak XV, Z47, Elevation Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners, and teamed with AI Grants India to support 10,000+ early-stage founders over the next 12 months.
- Activate's backers include Vinod Khosla, Perplexity co-founder Aravind Srinivas, Peak XV's Shailendra Singh, and Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma — a network built around 'inception investing' that meets technical teams months before company formation.
- Vaish said Nvidia's startup engagement in India has historically been 'light-touch' compared with the U.S., but the chipmaker is now working with founders 'much earlier in their journey' to capture future compute demand.
- Nvidia already supports 4,000+ Indian startups through its Inception program and in November 2025 joined the India Deep Tech Alliance alongside Accel, Blume Ventures, Premji Invest, and Celesta Capital.
Why it matters: Nvidia is shifting from broad ecosystem support to curated, founder-level engagement in India, funneling 25-30 startups through Activate and reaching 10,000+ founders via AI Grants India to seed future compute demand at inception. CEO Huang's no-show at the summit — even as partnerships rolled out — shows the India push is now full-corporate, not CEO-led.
