India’s AI startup ecosystem has entered a defining chapter.
We are no longer in the era of prototypes and proof-of-concepts. Today, we are seeing products in the market, pilots turning into production, and early momentum evolving into sustainable businesses.
The change is visible everywhere. Doctors in Tier-2 cities are improving diagnostic accuracy. Farmers are receiving hyper-local crop intelligence. Teachers are using AI-powered voice tools to enable learning in regional languages. These are not isolated breakthroughs — they are signals of what becomes possible when AI is built for India’s scale and complexity.
At the Google AI Startups Conclave in New Delhi, one message stood out clearly: if you build for India, you build for the world.
The next mission is simple — help Indian startups scale faster, expand globally, and deliver measurable outcomes.
Strengthening Full-Stack Support for Founders
To accelerate this momentum, Google is expanding its end-to-end support for AI startups — covering every stage from capability building to real-world deployment.
Powerful AI Infrastructure
Founders now have access to the same secure, scalable infrastructure that powers Google itself. Backed by global data center capacity and large-scale clean energy investments, this infrastructure removes a major barrier to growth.
The upcoming Global AI Hub in Visakhapatnam will further reinforce this foundation — serving as a 1-gigawatt anchor for India’s AI-driven economy.
Access to World-Class AI Models
Startups can build using advanced models such as:
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Gemini — designed for complex reasoning and advanced AI applications
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Gemma — supporting open research and scalable deployment
These tools enable Indian founders to develop state-of-the-art solutions without starting from scratch.
AI-Powered Safety and Privacy
With innovations such as Private AI Compute, startups can combine cloud-scale AI capabilities with strong on-device security protections. Sensitive data remains controlled and protected — a critical factor in sectors like healthcare, finance, and education.
Trust is no longer optional; it is foundational.
Holistic Founder Support
Beyond infrastructure and models, Google continues investing in people:
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Skilling thousands of new AI developers
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Accelerating product maturity through AI Accelerators
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Providing capital through initiatives like the AI Futures Fund
The focus is not just on technology — it is on empowering builders.
Introducing the Google Market Access Program
As startups mature, a new challenge emerges: moving from successful pilots to repeatable enterprise-scale adoption.
Product-market fit alone is not enough. Scaling requires enterprise trust, global networks, and strong go-to-market execution.
To address this gap, Google is launching the Google Market Access Program — a purpose-built initiative for AI-first startups ready to scale responsibly.
The program focuses on:
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Enterprise readiness and global selling expertise
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Access to Google’s enterprise ecosystem
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Immersion in key international markets
Applications are now open, offering founders a bridge from innovation to impact.
New AI Models Built for India’s Scale
Strong AI applications require strong foundational models. To accelerate deep-tech innovation in India, new additions to the open Gemma family were announced — targeting two rapidly growing areas: healthcare AI and on-device agents.
MedGemma 1.5: Advancing Healthcare AI
MedGemma 1.5 is a 4-billion-parameter open model built to support complex medical workflows. It enables developers to create tools for:
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CT and MRI scan analysis
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Whole slide histopathology
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Longitudinal chest X-ray analysis
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Anatomical localization
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Extraction of data from medical lab reports
This release builds on collaboration with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which is using MedGemma to develop India’s Health Foundation Models — contributing to the country’s Digital Public Infrastructure.
FunctionGemma: Powering Intelligent Agents
Alongside healthcare innovation, India is seeing strong momentum in agent-based AI systems.
FunctionGemma — a specialized version of Gemma 3 270M — is designed for function calling. It translates natural language into executable actions, enabling startups to build low-latency, on-device applications.
This makes it possible to:
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Automate workflows
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Deploy privacy-respecting mobile apps
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Build AI solutions that function even with limited connectivity
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Operate efficiently on low-end devices
In a country where connectivity and affordability matter deeply, these capabilities are transformative.
The $126 Billion Opportunity
The recently released Bharat AI Startups Report 2026 by Inc42 highlights a pivotal shift:
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India’s AI market is projected to reach $126 billion by 2030
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Nearly half of enterprises are transitioning pilots into full-scale production
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Falling compute costs are redirecting founder capital toward product innovation
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India’s complexity — 22 languages, price sensitivity, uneven connectivity — is becoming a global stress test for AI resilience
If an AI product performs reliably in rural India, it is ready for global deployment. “Bharat-tested” is emerging as a new benchmark for robustness.
Another critical insight: trust-by-design is becoming the new competitive moat. Startups embedding privacy, safety, and security from day one are winning long-term enterprise contracts.
From Output to Outcomes
The AI era will not be defined by how much technology we build — but by the outcomes it delivers.
Startups such as Cloudphysician, which has reduced ICU mortality rates by 40%, and Rocket Learning, which is personalizing education at scale, demonstrate what real impact looks like.
By connecting skilling, infrastructure, capital, and market access, barriers are being removed for founders ready to scale.
As we look ahead to the AI Impact Summit in February, one message is clear:
The future of AI is not merely being adopted in India — it is being built here.
And from India, it is scaling to the world.
