Google on Wednesday unveiled the 2026 cohort of its Google for Startups Accelerator: India programme, selecting 20 AI-first startups from nearly 2,500 applications as it marks the 10th anniversary of its accelerator initiatives in the country.
The new cohort reflects the rapid evolution of India’s startup ecosystem from traditional large language model (LLM)-based applications to agentic and multimodal AI systems, with startups developing solutions across sectors including healthcare, climate technology, finance, legal services, manufacturing, cybersecurity and developer tools.
According to Google, the selected startups are building next-generation AI products designed to solve complex real-world problems while bringing artificial intelligence into physical environments and enterprise workflows. As part of the accelerator programme, the startups will receive access to Google’s AI technology stack, along with technical guidance, product development support and go-to-market mentorship aimed at helping them scale their businesses globally.
Commenting on the announcement, Preeti Lobana, Vice President and Country Manager, Google India, said the country’s startup ecosystem is entering a new phase driven by agentic workflows and physical AI systems capable of addressing high-impact challenges. “India’s startup ecosystem is moving into a new frontier of agentic workflows and physical AI systems engineered to solve high-stakes, real-world challenges. As we mark a decade of Google Accelerator programs, the 2026 Indian cohort represents the vanguard of this technological shift,” Lobana mentioned.
The 2026 cohort includes startups working across a wide range of sectors. Legal technology startup Adalat AI is developing an end-to-end AI-powered justice platform to automate clerical processes and accelerate court case resolution.
(IANS)
