Nvidia is increasing its efforts to engage with India’s artificial intelligence startups much earlier in their development. This week, the company unveiled a series of partnerships designed to connect with founders even before their companies are formally established. This push aims to help the AI chipmaker cultivate relationships with future customers in one of the world’s fastest-growing developer markets.
The latest initiative is a partnership with the early-stage venture firm Activate. The firm plans to back approximately 25 to 30 AI startups from its debut fund of 75 million dollars while giving those portfolio companies preferential access to Nvidia’s technical expertise. This collaboration follows other India-focused efforts announced this week, including work with the nonprofit AI Grants India to support early-stage founders and new connections with venture firms focused on the South Asian nation.
This flurry of activity coincides with India hosting its AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, which has drawn top technology companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang was scheduled 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, meeting with 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 critical market for Nvidia as it seeks to expand adoption of its chips and computing software. By working more closely with founders at the earliest stages, the company positions itself to capture long-term demand as new AI-native companies scale.
Aakrit Vaish, founder of Activate, noted that Nvidia’s engagement with startups in India has historically been relatively light-touch compared to its work in the United States. The chipmaker is now looking to work with founders much earlier in their journey. Activate aims to leverage that shift by connecting its portfolio startups directly with Nvidia experts.
The venture firm, which Vaish describes as focused on inception investing, meets technical 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 managing director Shailendra Singh, and Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. This underscores 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 rely on its computing infrastructure as they scale. Vaish explained that growing startups typically consume increasing amounts of AI compute over time, making early technical engagement valuable for the chipmaker as a way of generating future business.
Nvidia already maintains a sizable presence in India through its Inception program, which supports more than 4,000 startups in the country. This week, the chipmaker also expanded its local ecosystem ties, including partnerships with venture firms such as Accel, Peak XV, Z47, Elevation Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners to identify and fund AI startups. It separately teamed up with AI Grants India to support more than 10,000 early-stage founders over the next 12 months.
The company has been broadening its startup outreach in India over time. In November 2025, Nvidia joined the India Deep Tech Alliance, a consortium of U.S. and Indian investors, 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. By serving 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.
This stepped-up activity underscores the intensifying competition among global technology firms to court AI developers and startups in India, which has become one of the fastest-growing pools of technical talent outside the United States.