Key takeaways
All facts in this document are as of 13 October 2026. Unless marked otherwise, each was read on the investor's or programme's own page on 12 or 13 October 2026. Secondary marks a news report or tracker, own count marks a count from this review of 789 investor and programme entries, and inference marks a conclusion drawn here rather than stated by a source. The open-questions section near the end lists what could not be confirmed.
- India and the India–US corridor are the most open door for India-based AI automation companies. A layer of AI-thesis pre-seed funds takes pitches through open forms (Neon Fund, Arka Venture Labs, Arali Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Emergent Ventures, Dallas Venture Capital), and four programmes reach the large firms without an introduction: Accel Atoms (up to $1M–$2M), Peak XV's Surge ($500K–$5M), Antler India (about INR 4 Cr for 11%) and South Park Commons' fellowship ($400K for 7%, workable from Bangalore).
- Money is flowing to Indian AI. Indian AI startups raised $676M across 57 deals in H1 2026, against $162M across 30 deals a year earlier (secondary). Europe's AI startups raised about $23B in H1 2026, but 73% of it went to 38 companies raising rounds of $100M or more (secondary).
- Outside India, the company you own decides who will read your deck. Character VC invests only in Delaware companies, YC asks companies from most countries to create a US, Canadian, Singapore or Cayman parent, the UK's SEIS and EIS exclude companies controlled by another company, the EIC Accelerator needs an EU or associated-country establishment, Singapore's SEEDS needs core activities in Singapore, Dubai's AI Seal needs a Dubai business, and Hub71 expects a founder to relocate.
- Forms, not inboxes, are the main way in. In this review, 47% of investors publish a pitch or application form and only 12% an email address labelled for pitches; 23% publish no written channel, so an introduction is the only route (own count).
- Three screens remove most applicants before the deck is read: team, traction and company age. Only 23 of 789 entries say solo founders are welcome (own count). Some funds set revenue gates, such as Pentathlon's "minimum of $200k ARR". India's startup recognition stops at 10 years from incorporation (20 for deep-tech startups), and several cloud and AI credit programmes cap company age at 7 or 10 years or exclude consultancies and agencies.
- Selection rates at the best-known programmes are around 1% or lower. a16z's speedrun accepts "lower than 0.4%" of applicants, Conviction Embed under 1%, and Google for Startups Accelerator India picked 20 of about 2,500 applicants in 2026.
- Agent memory and context layers are already funded. Mem0 raised $24M, Letta a $10M seed and Supermemory a seed round (secondary), and investors such as Peak XV, Basis Set, Felicis and Susa sit on those cap tables. Founders in the category should check each fund's portfolio for conflicts before pitching.
- The next deadlines favour programmes over funds: speedrun on 1 November, YC on 2 November, Techstars London and Techstars NYC/Anywhere on 18 November, Innovate UK's BridgeAI call on 8 December (UK SMEs only), SusHi Tech Tokyo on 18 December, Hub71 in February 2027 and JETRO's J-Bridge India listings until 31 March 2027.
Scope and how to read this document
This document covers pre-seed and seed investors, accelerators, angel networks, corporate venture arms, AI-platform credit programmes and public schemes that a company building an AI automation or agent-infrastructure product from India could approach. It covers India, the United States, the UK and Ireland, continental Europe, the UAE, Japan and Singapore, plus global programmes. Large rounds and acquisitions are in Companies, and India's compute subsidy and data rules are in India.
The counts marked "own count" come from a review of 789 investor and programme entries, built from their own websites, SEC Form ADV filings and, where a site blocked automated readers, an archived copy of that site. A "usable written channel" means a published pitch email, a general email or a form. Entity and age rules were taken only from wording on each site; where a site says nothing, its rule is unknown, not absent.
This is research, not investment, legal or tax advice. Cheque sizes, deadlines and eligibility rules change often, so confirm each one on the investor's own page before applying.
Capital is flowing to AI, but seed rounds are being concentrated
India. Indian AI startups raised $676M across 57 deals in H1 2026, against $162M across 30 deals a year earlier (secondary; Inc42). Z47 counts $1.25B into Indian AI companies last year, "most of it in early stage" (Z47). Peak XV's Surge 12, announced in September 2026, raised its per-company cap to $5M (secondary; Dealroom).
Europe. European AI startups raised about $23B in H1 2026, but 73% went to 38 companies raising $100M or more (secondary; Intelligent CIO). A Crunchbase-based report puts the year-on-year fall in deal count at about 40%, concentrated at seed (secondary; Crunchbase News).
Corporate investors. Corporate-backed rounds raised $146bn in Q2 2026, driven by AI mega-rounds, and 2026 is already the best year on record at the half-year mark (secondary; Global Venturing). Most corporate funds still co-invest behind an institutional lead, so for an early company their credit programmes matter more than their cheques.
Investors take pitches through forms, and many only through introductions
| Channel | Share of the 789 investors (own count) |
|---|---|
| At least one email address | 56% |
| An email address labelled for pitches | 12% |
| A pitch or application form | 47% |
| A phone number | 32% |
| No usable written channel | 23% |
The no-channel group includes several of the US funds with theses closest to AI context and agent infrastructure, among them Foundation Capital, Basis Set, Felicis, Flybridge and Amplify Partners (own count). Partner emails on team pages are common but are not invitations to pitch; the stated form or pitch inbox is the investor's own intake route (inference).
Two practical details recur. Japanese firms often take a first 30-minute video call and welcome pitch videos (Coral Capital). Some warn that emails impersonating their staff are circulating (Global Brain), so investors may check that an approach comes from a real company domain.
Three screens decide most applications: team, traction and company age
Solo founders
Only 23 of the 789 entries say solo founders are welcome, 3 say they are not, and 763 say nothing (own count). The explicit acceptances cluster in programmes:
- YC: "We regularly accept solo founders" (YC FAQ).
- a16z speedrun: solo founders "absolutely" can apply, though teams are preferred (speedrun FAQ).
- Accel Atoms: "Yes, you can apply if you are a solo founder" (Atoms FAQs).
- South Park Commons: solo founders are welcome, with a "strong bias for applicants who can build and prototype" (SPC F26 Founder Fellowship).
- Forum Ventures: 25.6% of its latest cohort was solo-founder-led (Forum Ventures accelerator). Conviction Embed accepts founders without a co-founder (Conviction Embed).
- Character VC writes that "solo founders can leverage AI to build with the speed of larger teams" (Character VC).
The explicit exclusions are as clear. Startup Wise Guys' equity programme requires "at least 2 co-founders" (Startup Wise Guys Flagship Accelerator), Unusual Academy wants teams of two to four with a technical co-founder (Unusual Academy), and Antler's Dubai programme "typically do[es] not invest in solo founders after the program" (Antler MENAP).
Traction
Some funds publish revenue gates that a pre-revenue company cannot meet yet.
| Investor | Traction gate stated |
|---|---|
| Pentathlon | "minimum of $200k ARR" |
| Mela Ventures | Invests after "early revenues and a clear product-market fit" |
| LAUNCH | $2K MRR at 20% monthly growth for enterprise companies |
| Bonfire Ventures | Companies typically at about $30–40K MRR |
| Upekkha | Early revenue of about $100K |
| Dubai Angel Investors | "Some revenue" |
Pre-product companies are not shut out. Arali is "comfortable backing companies before revenue, and even before product" (Arali Ventures). Passion Capital, which invests in UK or European companies, says there is "no need for product or customers" (Passion Capital), and Nauta backs B2B software "with an operating product, even if pre-revenue" (Nauta). About 40% of the companies YC funds are "just an idea" (YC FAQ).
Company age and a services history
Public and platform schemes often screen out established companies and service businesses.
| Scheme | Age or business-type rule |
|---|---|
| India's DPIIT startup recognition | Up to 10 years from incorporation (20 years for deep-tech startups); "an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a 'Startup'" (Startup India) |
| Startup India Seed Fund Scheme | Companies up to two years old; the 2026 call closed on 31 May (SISFS) |
| NVIDIA Inception | Under 10 years old; excludes "consulting and outsourced development" firms (NVIDIA Inception) |
| AWS Activate | "Founded in the last 10 years" (AWS Activate) |
| MongoDB for Startups | Under 7 years old; excludes development shops (MongoDB for Startups) |
| Cloudflare for Startups | Excludes "consultancies, service-based agencies, MSPs, or resellers" (Cloudflare for Startups) |
An established services company that builds a product therefore often needs a separate product company to use these schemes. Whether a new company counts as a "reconstruction" of the old one under DPIIT's wording is a question for a chartered accountant or lawyer (inference).
Selection rates
speedrun accepts "lower than 0.4%" of applicants (speedrun FAQ) and Conviction Embed under 1% (Conviction Embed). Google for Startups Accelerator India picked 20 of about 2,500 applicants in 2026 (Google: 2026 Accelerator India cohort). An application to a top cash programme is best treated as roughly a 1-in-100 chance or lower (inference from these published rates).
Agent memory and context layers are already a funded category
Investors have backed several companies building memory or shared context for AI agents.
| Company | What it builds | Funding and investors |
|---|---|---|
| Mem0 | Memory layer for AI apps | $24M in total ($3.9M seed and $20M Series A, October 2025), Series A led by Basis Set with Peak XV, GitHub Fund and YC (secondary; TechCrunch on Mem0; Entrackr) |
| Letta | Stateful agents (UC Berkeley spin-out) | $10M seed led by Felicis, with Sunflower and Essence VC (secondary; Pulse 2.0) |
| Supermemory | Memory API | Seed round of $2.6M led by Susa Ventures, Browder Capital and SF1.vc (secondary; TechCrunch on Supermemory) |
| Zep | Agent memory | Names Engineering Capital among its backers (Zep) |
| Engram | Memory | Announced by Amplify Partners as "the memory dream team" (Amplify Partners) |
| Manufact | MCP infrastructure | $6.3M seed led by Peak XV (secondary; Let's Data Science) |
| Atolio | "Enterprise search and AI context layer" | IBM Ventures portfolio (IBM Ventures) |
| NudgeBee | "Single enterprise context layer" | $3M seed led by Kalaari Capital (Kalaari Capital) |
| PotpieAI | Knowledge graph so agents can reason over system context | Picked for Google for Startups Accelerator India 2026 (Google: 2026 Accelerator India cohort) |
| Composio | Tool-integration layer for agents | Seeded by Together Fund (Together Fund) |
Investor theses point the same way. Wing partner Zach DeWitt backs "agentic applications and infrastructure, digital workers" (Wing team), Foundation Capital calls "context graphs" for agents a trillion-dollar opportunity (Foundation Capital), and Adara invests behind a "Trusted AI Infrastructure" thesis (Adara pitch form). In Europe, Volta led the pre-seed of HostYourAI, a sovereign AI hosting platform, and lists Kyvvu, which makes "AI agents safe for regulated industries" (Volta Ventures).
Two conclusions follow (inference). A fund that already holds a direct competitor may decline or may be conflicted, so ask early. And "memory for agents" on its own no longer stands out; a pitch needs a specific difference, such as governance, audit or cross-vendor use.
India: AI-thesis pre-seed funds, rolling programmes and angel networks
India is where pre-seed AI capital, open intake channels and no need to re-domicile overlap most. SEBI-registered Indian funds generally invest in Indian companies, which would make a Delaware parent unnecessary for them (inference; no fund confirmed it in writing, so ask each).
Pre-seed and seed funds with open routes
| Investor | Stage and cheque | Why it is relevant | Route | Watch-outs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neon Fund | Pre-seed/seed; $500K first cheque, $100–500K if the round is smaller | "We only invest in Enterprise AI startups"; acts as a US go-to-market partner; Delaware LP (Neon Fund) | Application form | Whether it can invest in an Indian private limited company is not stated |
| Arka Venture Labs | Pre-seed; up to $500K (SAFE, note or preferred equity) | "Pre-seed investors for B2B Tech start-ups building for Global Enterprise Markets"; Mumbai and Menlo Park (Arka) | Pitch email on its contact page | Recent activity not confirmed (its news page loads by script) |
| Arali Ventures | Pre-seed/seed; $250K–1.5M, usually leads | Thesis lists "Agents, but enterprise grade", "orchestration layers" and "AI Governance" (Arali Ventures) | Email on its site | The site's pitch link points to a template page |
| Kalaari Capital | Pre-seed to Series A; first cheque INR 4–40 Cr | Led NudgeBee's seed; process about 4–6 weeks (Kalaari: seek funding) | Seek-funding form | A context-layer company in the portfolio |
| Emergent Ventures | Inception to pre-Series A | Backs US-market companies "building from anywhere" (Emergent Ventures) | "Pitch Us" form | Strongest for companies selling into the US |
| Dallas Venture Capital | Early-stage B2B SaaS and enterprise AI | Hyderabad entity; portfolio includes CrewAI and Simplismart (Dallas VC) | India pitch form | Its contact page lists only a general inbox |
| Together Fund | Seed/Series A; $1–10M | "US-India corridor", AI-native only; seeded Composio (Together Fund) | Deals email on its contact page | Cheques start at $1M |
| Leo Capital | Pre-seed/seed | Infrastructure SaaS and GenAI; helps Indian companies go global (Leo Capital) | Pitch form | No email published |
| Eximius Ventures | Pre-seed "Cheque Zero" | Published "A Thesis on AI Agents" (Eximius) | Form or pitch email | Cheque size not stated |
| AJVC | Pre-seed; about INR 1.5 Cr for about 9% | Replies within 2 days and closes in under 3 weeks | Application | Generalist |
| DeVC | $50–500K first cheque | "AI" and "DevTools & Infra" buckets (DeVC) | General email on its site | — |
| Endiya Partners | Seed/pre-Series A | A "co-founder VC for early-stage AI, Deep Tech" (Endiya) | Email on its site | — |
| Shastra VC | Pre-seed/seed | Backs AI "at a stage where belief comes before proof" (Shastra VC) | Email or form on its site | — |
| Merak, Ideaspring, Upsparks | Pre-seed/seed; Merak $0.5–1.5M first cheque | Ideaspring: "global enterprise products from India"; Upsparks: a micro-VC run by former founders (Merak; Ideaspring; Upsparks) | Merak email; Ideaspring and Upsparks forms | — |
| WEH Ventures, All In Capital, PedalStart | Small lead cheques: WEH $150–500K, All In $250–600K, PedalStart $150K | Open forms; PedalStart is an accelerator that leads rounds (WEH; All In Capital; PedalStart) | Forms; PedalStart by email | — |
| Storm Ventures (US) | Early-stage B2B AI | India portfolio includes an "Agentic AI solution for enterprise management" (Storm Ventures) | "Let's Talk" form | — |
| Mozilla Ventures (US) | Pre-seed/seed | "able to invest globally" (Mozilla Ventures about), with a focus on trustworthy AI, security and privacy; "you don't need to have a warm introduction" (Mozilla Ventures contacts) | Deck form | Best for a privacy or governance angle |
| Activate | Inception to growth; leads the first institutional round with $500K–3M plus up to $1M in AI-lab credits | "India's Native-AI Venture Firm" (Activate) | No public channel | Introduction only |
Programmes that open the large firms without an introduction
| Programme | Offer | Conditions and timing | Route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accel Atoms | "Up to $1M–$2M" for India-based and Indian-origin founders; the 2026 AI cohort was co-funded by Google's AI Futures Fund (Atoms and Google) | Rolling; solo founders may apply; the company must be incorporated by the time it is selected and have raised under $2M (Atoms FAQs) | apply.accel-atoms.com |
| Peak XV's Surge | $500K–$5M seed | Surge 12 announced in September 2026 with the cap raised to $5M (secondary; Dealroom) | surge.peakxv.com/apply |
| Antler India | About INR 4 Cr for 11% | About half its India investments are made outside the residency; decides in about three weeks (Antler India) | Pitch form |
| South Park Commons Founder Fellowship | $400K for 7% plus a guaranteed $600K in the next round | Fellows can work from Bangalore; the Spring 2027 date is not yet published (SPC F26 Founder Fellowship) | southparkcommons.com/apply |
Upekkha targets founders moving to an AI-first B2B business "from scratch, from services, or from an existing product", but its last intake closed on 6 September 2026 (Upekkha). Chiratae Sonic promises a 48-hour turnaround on seed cheques of up to $2M (Chiratae Ventures).
Angel networks
Angel networks state no company-age rule.
| Network | What it offers | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Inflection Point Ventures | An eight-step process | Pitch form or email on its contact page |
| Venture Catalysts | Its form asks about full-time founders and monthly recurring revenue | Online form |
| Keiretsu Forum India | Members invest INR 10 lakh or more per deal | Apply to pitch |
| IAN Group | Rolling intake | "Submit Plan" |
| Waveform Ventures | Co-leads $100–400K seed rounds; decides within two weeks; pre-launch is fine if the founders are full-time | Waveform FAQ |
Keiretsu's cross-chapter rule lets a company that has presented to its nearest chapter and drawn member interest present to other chapters in its global network (Keiretsu Forum).
Government money splits by entity
- The ANRF RDI Fund states no company-age limit in its eligibility definition and names AI as a sector. Its first 19 second-level fund managers were approved on 8 October 2026, and it offers loans or equity, not grants, for up to 50% of project cost (RDI Fund press release; RDI Fund guidelines).
- TDB core funding lends up to 50% of a project at 5% simple interest plus royalty, against collateral, and excludes proprietorships and partnerships (TDB funding guidelines).
- The IndiaAI compute portal takes requests from the 1st to the 25th of each month (IndiaAI compute portal). Its rates, the subsidy of up to 40% and its eligibility categories are in India.
- Some state and national programmes tie eligibility to company age or DPIIT recognition. nasscom's DeepTech Club Launchpad asks for a company under 10 years old since incorporation and registered in India (nasscom DeepTech Club Launchpad). Tamil Nadu's TANSEED requires DPIIT recognition, so the age and "reconstruction" rules above apply, and it also excludes subsidiaries and Indian arms of foreign firms (secondary; Entrepreneur India).
United States: a Delaware company is the default ask
Several US investors state the entity rule outright:
- Character VC: "We only invest in United States (Delaware) incorporated companies, but it's okay if your team is located outside the USA" (Character VC). Its Labs track offers $200K for 5% and its Core fund up to $2M, with no warm introduction needed (Character VC; Character VC contact form).
- Inventus reserves its seed route for "a US-incorporated early-stage technology business" (Inventus Capital), and Precursor invests in companies headquartered in North America (Precursor Ventures).
- YC requires a company incorporated outside the US, Canada, Singapore or the Cayman Islands to create a parent in one of them, noting that many companies in each batch do this (YC FAQ).
- TinySeed wants a Delaware C-corp or willingness to reincorporate as one (TinySeed FAQ).
- TiE Boston's India–US corridor track funds Indian seed and Series A companies "registered in the US" (TiE Boston Angels).
Most other US seed funds say nothing. Leads usually ask for a Delaware parent at closing; that is market practice, not something each fund states (inference). Funds that say they invest regardless of geography include Mozilla Ventures (Mozilla Ventures about), Underscore VC, which calls itself "geography-agnostic" (Underscore FAQs), Work-Bench, which backs "founders anywhere who want to win customers here" (Work-Bench), and Weekend Fund, which invests "around the world" (Weekend Fund), though its latest SEC adviser filing found dates from February 2025.
| Investor or programme | What it offers | Route | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conviction Embed | $250K uncapped SAFE; 7th cohort open | embed.conviction.com | Mandatory San Francisco retreat; under 1% selected |
| a16z speedrun | Accelerator with a 1 November 2026 deadline | speedrun application | In San Francisco from 1 February to 16 April 2027 |
| Work-Bench, Decibel, Uncork, Khosla Ventures | Seed funds for enterprise AI, devtools and infrastructure | Pitch emails on Work-Bench, Decibel, Uncork and Khosla Ventures | Apart from Work-Bench, expect to need a US entity |
| Everywhere Ventures | $250K into pre-seed rounds | Join our portfolio form | AI is not its core thesis |
| Forum Ventures | "$100k USD for 7.5% equity" for B2B software with less than $500K raised (Forum Ventures accelerator) | Online application | An MVP in market or close to it |
| Z Fellows | An optional $10,000; mostly virtual cohorts; rolling (Z Fellows) | Online application | Solo founders accepted |
| Betaworks Camp | 12 weeks in New York, hybrid possible, no fees; current camp "The New Agent Economy" (Betaworks Camp) | Online application | Deadline extended, no date published |
Foundation Capital and Wing hold theses close to agent context and digital workers but publish no pitch form; Wing lists only a general inbox. Both need introductions, for which diaspora networks such as the TiE chapters and existing US customers are the usual sources (inference).
UK and Ireland: SEIS and EIS reward an independent UK company
UK pre-seed money leans on the SEIS and EIS tax reliefs, and both rule out a company controlled by another company. EIS requires "a permanent establishment in the UK" and a company that is not "controlled by another company, or... [with] more than 50% of its shares owned by another company" (HMRC EIS). SEIS caps a company's raise at £250,000 and requires that it has never been controlled by another company (HMRC SEIS). A UK subsidiary of an Indian parent therefore cannot use them; a UK company owned by its founders can.
| Investor or programme | What it offers | Route | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Techstars London | Accelerator open to founders worldwide; in London 8 March to 3 June 2027 (Techstars London) | apply.techstars.com by 18 November 2026 | Three months in London |
| Crane Venture Partners | Inception to seed; "We back outlier founders everywhere" (Crane); lists Bangalore among its cities | Crane contact | — |
| Moonfire | Pre-seed/seed; "Work & Knowledge" thesis | Pitch email on its site | Geography not stated |
| Sure Valley Ventures | AI software only; up to £1.5m first cheque | SVV pitch | Invests across the UK and Ireland; entity rule not stated |
| Air Street Capital | AI-only; $500K–$15M cheques in North America and Europe (Air Street Fund III) | Its FAQ asks founders to email its founder directly (Air Street) | — |
The programme that fits AI governance work most closely is Innovate UK's BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst: AI for Assurance and Compliance. It opens on 21 October and closes on 8 December 2026, but only "UK registered SMEs" can apply for a share of up to £5m (Innovate UK Business Connect). The Global Entrepreneur Programme expects revenue from £250,000 (sector dependent), registered IP and a founder who relocates or a senior UK role (Global Entrepreneur Programme). Ireland's NDRC €100k SAFE showed rolling applications as "now closed" (NDRC).
Continental Europe: public money needs an EU entity
The EIC Accelerator requires proof of "effective establishment in a Member State or an Associated Country" by the full-proposal stage, and its next cut-off is 4 November 2026 (EIC Accelerator 2026 summary). Most national programmes have similar rules. Without an EU company, two routes remain:
- Global networks and funds with global mandates. Antler runs India and continental-Europe programmes in one network with one pitch form (Antler pitch). Point Nine writes $1–10M per company with a global mandate (Point Nine), and Hummingbird says "the distance that may separate us is not relevant" (Hummingbird); both take pitches only through general inboxes. XAnge's pitch form accepts India (XAnge), and Nauta takes pre-revenue companies with an operating product (Nauta).
- Startup-visa or landing schemes that create the EU company. Estonia's requires an MVP and first traction, approved by its Startup Committee (Startup Estonia); Portugal's runs through a certified incubator (Startup Portugal); the Netherlands' runs through a facilitator (business.gov.nl).
STATION F has run a programme for Indian AI startups entering Europe, but the next India AI call is not announced and its Founders Program is "on pause" (STATION F programs; STATION F FAQ). Startup Wise Guys' Founders Club, an online B2B programme, closes on 2 November 2026, though its equity programme needs two or more co-founders (Startup Wise Guys programmes). Luxembourg's Fit 4 Start #18 has opened pre-registration (Luxinnovation Fit 4 Start), and MassChallenge Switzerland's 2027 dates are not yet published (MassChallenge Switzerland).
UAE: corridor funds now, government pilots after a Dubai licence
Three UAE doors are open to an Indian company without a UAE entity:
- 100Unicorns (formerly 9Unicorns) has opened an office in Abu Dhabi's ADGM for the India–MENA corridor; under its earlier name it announced first-round cheques of $300K–1M per startup (secondary for the office; ADGM announcement; 100Unicorns).
- Peak XV's Surge, which lists offices in the US, India, Singapore and the UAE (Surge).
- Expand North Star, a Dubai investor-matching event whose 2025 edition lists 2,050 global startups and 1,300 investors (Expand North Star).
The UAE–India Start-Up Series is the most concrete corridor mechanism. It requires "Indian-registered entities" with market traction and a UAE roadmap; edition 2.0 closed on 30 August 2026 (UAE–India Start-Up Series), and the first edition drew more than 10,000 applications (secondary; Tribune India).
Dubai's Agentic AI for Government Services Accelerator launched on 5 October 2026 with 33 government entities and more than 300 use cases (Dubai Future Foundation). Participating entities will work with technology companies certified under the Dubai AI Seal, which is open to AI businesses that "operate legally in Dubai" (Dubai AI Seal). Hub71 offers AED 250,000 in cash through a SAFE plus AED 250,000 in kind, but "at least one founder is expected to commit to relocating long-term", and its Cohort 21 deadline is in February 2027 (Hub71 Access programme). Ras Al Khaimah's Innovation City sells the cheapest licence found, a seed package with one visa for AED 13,200 a year (Innovation City packages), but a licence there does not meet the Dubai AI Seal's rule (inference). Antler's Dubai programme is a poor fit for solo founders (see above).
Japan: funds with India offices, and corporate matching through JETRO
The Japanese early-stage funds that invest in India-registered companies have Indian offices and open forms. Global Brain's English form offers "India" as a company region and "Pre-seed" as a round, and it leads into the KDDI Open Innovation Fund V that Global Brain manages (Global Brain investment form; KDDI Open Innovation Fund). Incubate Fund India leads seed rounds (Incubate Fund India), and Beyond Next Ventures invests from seed to Series A in Japan and India with a deep-tech focus (Beyond Next Ventures). Rebright Partners backs Jiffy ("AI-powered Intelligent Automation solutions") and has a Bengaluru office (Rebright Partners portfolio). Genesia routes financing enquiries to a "designated capitalist" rather than its form, so it needs an introduction (Genesia Ventures).
Corporate and event routes open to India-based startups:
- JETRO J-Bridge matches overseas startups with Japanese corporates; meetings are by invitation after a JETRO review, and India-tagged needs show an application deadline of 31 March 2027 (J-Bridge; J-Bridge member registration).
- JETRO Bengaluru runs a Japan-India Startup Hub with T-Hub (secondary; Entrepreneur India).
- Panasonic Ignition's CO.lab Studio incubates AI startups around Panasonic's MirAIe platform (Panasonic Ignition).
- SusHi Tech Challenge 2027 runs in English, carries a JPY 10M grand prize and closes on 18 December 2026. Participants must be able to pitch on both event days and exhibit at a booth on all three days, in Tokyo, 20–22 May 2027 (SusHi Tech Challenge).
Singapore: state money requires real Singapore operations
SEEDS, part of SG Growth Capital, requires a "Singapore-based company with core activities carried out here", incorporated as a Pte Ltd less than 10 years ago with paid-up capital of at least S$50,000 (SEEDS Capital). The S$1B top-up to Startup SG Equity targets Singapore-based deep-tech companies (Enterprise Singapore factsheet). EntrePass, the founder's work pass, needs at least S$100,000 raised in one round from an eligible investor, among other routes (MOM EntrePass).
The Singapore-based investors that back India-based companies directly include Peak XV's Surge, Jungle Ventures (India and Southeast Asia, first cheque $500K–$20M; Jungle Ventures), Vertex Ventures SEA & India (Vertex Ventures), and TiE Singapore's angels, who meet four times a year (TiE Singapore). BEENEXT's site shows no dated activity, so its current investing is unconfirmed.
Corporate venture arms and AI-platform programmes: credits now, cheques after a lead
| Programme | Offer | Route | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlassian Ventures | Typically seed to Series B on a published convertible note; no board seat; Marketplace placement (Atlassian Ventures FAQ) | Email on its FAQ | Atlassian's own Rovo and Teamwork Graph cover context for agents, so position a product as complementary (inference) |
| Claude for Startups (Anthropic) | Up to $45K in partner perks; up to $100K in API credits only through a partner VC; open to bootstrapped companies | Application form | — |
| Google AI Futures Fund and Google Cloud startup program | Rolling form with optional equity; cloud credits of $2K before funding, $200–350K once funded (AI Futures Fund; Google Cloud for Startups) | Online forms | Co-invests with Accel in Indian startups through Accel Atoms (secondary; TechCrunch) |
| IBM Ventures | Early-stage enterprise AI (IBM Ventures) | Opportunity form | Portfolio includes Atolio, an AI context layer |
| HubSpot Ventures | $500K–5M initial; global; themes include "AI & Agent Development" (HubSpot Ventures) | Email on its page | Seed to Series B |
| JioGenNext | No equity and no fees; pilots across Reliance businesses (JioGenNext) | Application form | A route to a large Indian reference customer |
| NVIDIA Inception, AWS Activate, Cloudflare, MongoDB | Free membership and credits | Online forms | Age caps or services exclusions (see the screens above) |
| Databricks for Startups | Up to $200K in credits, including Neon Postgres (Databricks startup program) | Online form | Databricks Ventures only co-invests with a lead (Databricks Ventures) |
Three programmes that appear in older lists had no working official page on 12–13 October 2026: Cohere's startup programme URL redirects to its homepage (Cohere startup program), Oracle's global startup page redirects to its cloud page (Oracle for Startups), and the Intel Liftoff URL leads to a generic developer page (Intel Liftoff). Earnest Capital's latest SEC adviser filing found dates from March 2023, so its current activity is unconfirmed (SEC Form ADV 300048).
Company structure decides which doors open
The entity rules above combine into a small set of options. This is a summary of what the sources state, not advice; the choice needs a chartered accountant and a lawyer.
| Option | What it opens | What it closes or risks |
|---|---|---|
| Raise through an existing Indian company | Angels with no age rule, Indian VCs that state no entity rule, TDB, the RDI Fund, Global Brain | DPIIT schemes and age-capped credit programmes if the company is over the age limits; services exclusions |
| A new Indian private limited company for the product | DPIIT recognition if it is not a "splitting up or reconstruction" of an existing business; grant schemes; credit programmes; Accel Atoms; the UAE–India Start-Up Series | Whether moving IP or business into it counts as "reconstruction"; TANSEED excludes subsidiaries |
| A Delaware C-corp parent over an Indian subsidiary (a "flip") | YC (or a Singapore, Canadian or Cayman parent), Character VC, Inventus, TinySeed, US angel groups and most US leads at closing | RBI/FEMA approvals, transfer pricing and valuation reports (Treelife on flips); reversing a flip later can be costly, as Groww's reported ~$159M US exit tax shows (secondary; Treelife on Groww) |
| A Singapore holding company | YC's parent rule, Southeast Asia-only funds, EntrePass after a S$100K+ raise | SEEDS and Startup SG Equity still need core activities in Singapore |
| A founder-owned UK company with a UK permanent establishment | SEIS/EIS-backed angels and micro-VCs, Sure Valley Ventures, Innovate UK | A UK subsidiary of a foreign parent fails SEIS/EIS |
| An EU company through a landing scheme, or a Dubai free-zone company | The EIC and EU national funds; the Dubai AI Seal and Dubai government pilots | Residency, incubator or licence costs; Hub71 also needs a founder to relocate |
Applying does not always have to wait for the decision. YC lets accepted companies create the parent after acceptance (YC FAQ), and Accel Atoms needs incorporation only by the time a startup is selected (Atoms FAQs).
Deadlines from 13 October 2026
| Date | Programme | What it offers or requires | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Oct 2026 | 500 Global accelerator, Batch 37 | Applicants must be in the US or plan to be within six months | 500 Global |
| 20 Oct 2026 | Founder Institute (virtual cohort starting 27 Oct) | $1,149 entrance fee | Founder Institute |
| 25th of each month | IndiaAI compute portal request window | Monthly; check eligibility first | IndiaAI compute portal |
| 29 Oct 2026 | MeitY GENESIS Pilot 2.0 | Needs DPIIT recognition; date seen only on an aggregator (secondary) | StartupGrantsIndia |
| 1 Nov 2026 | a16z speedrun SR008 | Founders in San Francisco from 1 February to 16 April 2027 | speedrun application |
| 2 Nov 2026 | YC Winter 2027 | Parent company in the US, Canada, Singapore or Cayman needed if accepted; decisions by 11 December | YC apply |
| 2 Nov 2026 | Startup Wise Guys Founders Club | Online B2B programme; the equity programme needs two or more co-founders | Startup Wise Guys programmes |
| 4 Nov 2026 | EIC Accelerator cut-off | EU or associated-country establishment by the full proposal | EIC Accelerator 2026 summary |
| 18 Nov 2026 | Techstars London 2027 | In London 8 March to 3 June 2027 | Techstars London |
| 18 Nov 2026 | Techstars NYC and Anywhere 2027 | Programme starts 8 March 2027; Demo Day 3 June 2027 | Techstars Anywhere |
| 8 Dec 2026 | Innovate UK BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst (opens 21 Oct) | UK-registered SMEs only | Innovate UK Business Connect |
| 18 Dec 2026 | SusHi Tech Challenge 2027 | JPY 10M grand prize; participants in Tokyo 20–22 May 2027 | SusHi Tech Challenge |
| Feb 2027 | Hub71 Cohort 21 | A founder must commit to relocating to Abu Dhabi | Hub71 Access programme |
| 31 Mar 2027 | JETRO J-Bridge India-tagged needs | Corporate matching by invitation after JETRO review | J-Bridge member registration |
Several routes have no deadline: Accel Atoms, Surge, the Antler pitch form, Forum Ventures and Z Fellows are rolling, Conviction Embed's 7th cohort is open, and nasscom's DeepTech Club Launchpad onboards monthly. Dates are still to be announced for the South Park Commons Spring 2027 fellowship, Upekkha's next intake, Google for Startups Accelerator India 2027 (the 2026 call opened on 31 March), the next UAE–India Start-Up Series, Fit 4 Start #18, MassChallenge Switzerland 2027 and NDRC's reopening.
What this means for your business
These points are inferences from the evidence above, not investment, legal or tax advice.
Start here
- Settle the company question before you file anything. Decide which company will own the product and where it is incorporated, with a chartered accountant and a lawyer, because that one choice opens or closes DPIIT schemes, credit programmes, US leads, SEIS/EIS and EU public money (see "Company structure decides which doors open").
- Begin with the routes that need no introduction and no new entity. For an India-based company that means the Indian AI-thesis funds' forms, the rolling programmes (Accel Atoms, Surge, Antler India, South Park Commons), angel networks and corporate matching such as J-Bridge.
- Get evidence before you approach thesis-matched seed funds. Named design partners, letters of intent or paid pilots move a pitch from "idea" to "early traction", which is the screen many funds apply.
Decisions to make
- Which residencies you can accept. speedrun (San Francisco, February to April 2027), Techstars London (March to June 2027), SusHi Tech (Tokyo, May 2027) and Hub71 (relocation) each require time on site.
- Whether to flip to Delaware, and when. Weigh the flip's approvals and exit cost against the US investors it opens, and ask Indian funds whether they can invest into a foreign parent before you flip.
- How to describe your team and product status. Forms ask for incorporation year, full-time founders, ARR or MRR and amount raised (for example Venture Catalysts and Episode 1). Answer them exactly as things stand, including any use of AI agents in place of staff.
What to prepare
- One master deck with short regional appendices, a one-page summary, a two-to-three-minute demo video and standard answers to the common form fields. Some investors ask for a demo or Loom video in the application (Inventus Capital; Luminar Ventures).
- A competitor slide that names the funded companies in your category and states your difference; in agent memory that means Mem0, Letta, Zep, Supermemory and the context layers inside large platforms.
- An ask sized to the funds you target. The pre-seed funds above mostly write first cheques of $150K to $1.5M.
Deadlines
- Put the table above into your plan: speedrun on 1 November, YC on 2 November, Techstars on 18 November, BridgeAI on 8 December, SusHi Tech on 18 December, Hub71 in February 2027 and J-Bridge by 31 March 2027.
Risks to control
- Portfolio conflicts. Check each fund's portfolio for direct competitors before pitching, and ask about conflicts on the first call.
- Over-claiming. Investors check what they are told; keep pilot, customer and revenue claims exactly as they stand.
- Pitch etiquette. Use each firm's stated intake route; partner emails on team pages are not invitations to pitch, and some firms warn about impersonation, so write from your company domain.
Questions to ask any investor
- Can you invest in our current entity, or do you need a Delaware, Singapore or UK parent, and at what stage?
- Do you hold a company that competes with ours?
- What evidence do you expect at this stage: design partners, pilots or revenue?
- What is your first-cheque range, and do you lead or follow?
- How long does your process take from first call to money in the bank?
Open questions and unverified items
| Item | What the sources show | What would settle it |
|---|---|---|
| Whether India-focused funds such as Neon Fund and Together Fund invest in an Indian private limited company or need a foreign parent | Neon Fund is a Delaware LP; neither states its rule | Asking each fund |
| Whether a new product company spun out of an older one counts as a "reconstruction" under DPIIT rules | The rule's wording only | A professional opinion or a DPIIT clarification |
| Activity at Arka Venture Labs, Weekend Fund, BEENEXT and Earnest Capital | Arka's news page loads by script; Weekend Fund's latest SEC filing found is from February 2025, Earnest Capital's from March 2023; BEENEXT's site shows no dated activity | Recent deals or filings |
| The next UAE–India Start-Up Series, Spring 2027 SPC fellowship and Upekkha intake dates | Not announced on 13 October 2026 | The organisers' pages |
| MeitY GENESIS Pilot 2.0 deadline | Seen only on an aggregator | MeitY Startup Hub page |
| 100Unicorns' ADGM office terms | ADGM announcement only | 100Unicorns' own terms |
| Whether investor pitch forms actually deliver | No form was submitted in this review | Submitting one |
Sources
- Inc42
- Z47
- Dealroom
- Intelligent CIO
- Crunchbase News
- Global Venturing
- Coral Capital
- Global Brain (globalbrains.com)
- YC FAQ (ycombinator.com)
- speedrun FAQ
- Atoms FAQs
- SPC F26 Founder Fellowship (southparkcommons.com)
- Forum Ventures accelerator (forumvc.com)
- Conviction Embed
- Character VC
- Startup Wise Guys Flagship Accelerator
- Unusual Academy
- Antler MENAP
- Pentathlon
- Mela Ventures
- LAUNCH (launchaccelerator.co)
- Bonfire Ventures (bonfirevc.com)
- Upekkha
- Dubai Angel Investors
- Arali Ventures
- Passion Capital
- Nauta (nautacapital.com)
- Startup India
- SISFS (seedfund.startupindia.gov.in)
- NVIDIA Inception
- AWS Activate
- MongoDB for Startups
- Cloudflare for Startups
- Google: 2026 Accelerator India cohort (blog.google)
- TechCrunch on Mem0
- Entrackr
- Pulse 2.0
- TechCrunch on Supermemory
- Zep (getzep.com)
- Amplify Partners
- Let's Data Science (letsdatascience.com)
- IBM Ventures
- Kalaari Capital
- Together Fund
- Wing team
- Foundation Capital
- Adara pitch form (adaravc.typeform.com)
- Volta Ventures
- Neon Fund
- Application form (neon.fund)
- Arka
- contact page (arka.vc)
- Kalaari: seek funding
- Seek-funding form (kalaari.com)
- Emergent Ventures
- Pitch Us" form
- Dallas VC
- India pitch form (airtable.com)
- contact page (together.fund)
- Leo Capital
- Pitch form (leo.capital)
- Eximius (eximiusvc.com)
- Form (wkf.ms)
- Application (ajuniorvc.com)
- DeVC
- Endiya
- Shastra VC
- Merak (merakventures.com)
- Ideaspring (ideaspringcap.com)
- Upsparks
- WEH (wehventures.com)
- All In Capital
- PedalStart
- Storm Ventures
- Let's Talk" form (stormventures.typeform.com)
- Mozilla Ventures about
- Mozilla Ventures contacts
- Deck form (mozilla.vc)
- Activate (activatevc.ai)
- Atoms and Google
- apply.accel-atoms.com
- surge.peakxv.com/apply
- Antler India
- Pitch form (antler.co)
- southparkcommons.com/apply
- Chiratae Ventures
- contact page (ipventures.in)
- Online form (venturecatalysts.in)
- Apply to pitch (keiretsuforum.in)
- Submit Plan (iangroup.vc)
- Waveform FAQ
- Keiretsu Forum
- RDI Fund press release
- RDI Fund guidelines
- TDB funding guidelines
- IndiaAI compute portal
- nasscom DeepTech Club Launchpad
- Entrepreneur India
- Character VC contact form
- Inventus Capital
- Precursor Ventures (precursorvc.com)
- TinySeed FAQ
- TiE Boston Angels
- Underscore FAQs
- Work-Bench
- Weekend Fund
- speedrun application
- Decibel
- Uncork (uncorkcapital.com)
- Khosla Ventures
- Join our portfolio form (airtable.com)
- Z Fellows
- Betaworks Camp
- HMRC EIS (gov.uk)
- HMRC SEIS (gov.uk)
- Techstars London
- apply.techstars.com
- Crane
- Crane contact
- its site (moonfire.com)
- SVV pitch
- Air Street Fund III (press.airstreet.com)
- Air Street
- Innovate UK Business Connect (iuk-business-connect.org.uk)
- Global Entrepreneur Programme (business.gov.uk)
- NDRC
- EIC Accelerator 2026 summary (innovationisrael.org.il)
- Point Nine
- Hummingbird
- XAnge
- Startup Estonia
- Startup Portugal
- business.gov.nl
- STATION F programs
- STATION F FAQ
- Startup Wise Guys programmes
- Luxinnovation Fit 4 Start
- MassChallenge Switzerland
- ADGM announcement
- 100Unicorns
- Surge
- Expand North Star (dubaichamberdigital.com)
- UAE–India Start-Up Series (startupseries.ae)
- Tribune India
- Dubai Future Foundation
- Dubai AI Seal
- Hub71 Access programme
- Innovation City packages
- Global Brain investment form (globalbrains.com)
- KDDI Open Innovation Fund (globalbrains.com)
- Incubate Fund India
- Beyond Next Ventures
- Rebright Partners portfolio
- Genesia Ventures
- J-Bridge (jetro.go.jp)
- J-Bridge member registration (jetro.go.jp)
- Entrepreneur India
- Panasonic Ignition
- SusHi Tech Challenge (sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp)
- SEEDS Capital
- Enterprise Singapore factsheet (enterprisesg.gov.sg)
- MOM EntrePass
- Jungle Ventures
- Vertex Ventures
- TiE Singapore
- Atlassian Ventures FAQ
- Application form (claude.com)
- AI Futures Fund (labs.google)
- Google Cloud for Startups
- TechCrunch
- Opportunity form (forms.monday.com)
- HubSpot Ventures
- JioGenNext
- Application form (forms.gle)
- Databricks startup program (sites.google.com)
- Databricks Ventures
- Cohere startup program
- Oracle for Startups
- Intel Liftoff (developer.intel.com)
- SEC Form ADV 300048 (reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov)
- Treelife on flips
- Treelife on Groww
- 500 Global
- Founder Institute (fi.co)
- StartupGrantsIndia
- YC apply (ycombinator.com)
- Techstars Anywhere
- Episode 1
- Luminar Ventures