26 startups selected for Nasscom’s AI programme

Bengaluru: To empower domestic tech startups in the artificial intelligence (AI) domain, IT industry’s apex body Nasscom on Thursday announced the selection of 26 startups for its inaugural ‘Generative AI Foundry’ programme.

In partnership with the Telangana government, the 12-month programme will provide startups with the opportunity to work on impactful B2G (business-to-government) use cases and connect with over 30 industry and investor organisations. Select partners will invest up to $25 million in the most promising startups.

Moreover, investors will extend support in various forms, catalysing growth and innovation, said Nasscom.

“Unlocking the full potential of generative AI startups for India, and from India for the world, will not only require rigorous assessment of sustainable whitespace opportunities in various sectors, but will also require innovative thinking towards inviting patient capital and facilitating compute capabilities at scale,” said Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom.

The startups were selected from more than 70 applicants. The average startup in the cohort is 2-year-old and has already raised half a million dollars from institutional investors.

The startups offer solutions that generate text, audio, code, video/image, and multimodal output with strong use cases for retail, media and entertainment, banking and financial services, and various functions of the enterprise.

Some of the programme partners include Anthill Ventures, Broadridge, Capgemini, Centific, Chiratae Ventures, Cigniti, eClerx, Endiya Partners, GitHub, Jio GenNext, MathWorks, Microsoft, Pavestone VC, Premji Invest, Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore (SRI-B), Silverneedle Ventures, Sutherland, and VOIS (Vodafone Intelligent Solutions).

During the initial 6 months, startups will engage in intensive boot camps and active mentoring sessions conducted by industry experts and investor mentors.

They will gain access to cutting-edge technology stacks and GPU compute nodes, enabling them to accelerate their AI projects. The Indian Generative AI landscape had more than 60 startups dedicated to offering solutions and services to their customers spread across various industry verticals. More than $590 million in funding has already flown into this space, with 2022 being the year with the heaviest funding inflow, according to Nasscom.