India’s strides in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are often described in terms of venture funding, unicorn valuations, or the global race to access GPU clusters. But, beneath these headlines lies a quieter, foundational movement, one powered not by governments, but by private startup accelerators.
These accelerators are rapidly becoming the unsung infrastructure of India’s AI ecosystem, filling critical gaps that money alone cannot solve.
As compute costs soar, regulatory frameworks lag, and public infrastructure remains strained, private accelerators are stepping in to democratise access to compute, mentorship, and enterprise markets.
Their role is becoming crucial in ensuring that AI innovation in India is not restricted to well-funded founders in metros, but is accessible to the country’s broad and diverse talent pool as well.
Clarity Before Capital
While most accelerators position themselves as funding pipelines, founders increasingly seek something deeper, execution support.
As Manas Pal, cofounder of PedalStart, puts it: early-stage startups “don’t fail because they run out of money. They fail because they lose clarity.” He notes that the “biggest gaps… lie in problem validation” and the absence of founder-problem fit.
“At PedalStart, our belief is simple: clarity before capital, and execution before valuation,” he adds.
For AI startups, these gaps are amplified. GPU costs in India can be prohibitive; NVIDIA A100 instances often cost three to five times more in India than in subsidised US or EU zones. Access to high-quality domain data and regulatory clarity in sectors such as fintech, health, and legal only adds to the friction.
This is why accelerators are becoming infrastructure builders.
One of their crucial contributions has been democratising access to compute credits and cloud architecture support.
InsightAI, an AI-driven AML and fraud-detection startup accelerated by PedalStart, emphasises how transformative this was.
“Through PedalStart’s network, we secured substantial AWS and Google Cloud credits, which enabled us to run large-scale model training and experimentation without worrying about compute costs,” said Akash Chandra, co-founder of InsightAI. For early AI teams, this can shave lakhs off burn rates and drastically accelerate iteration cycles.
This model is being replicated widely. According to Inc42’s 2024 Startup Report, a large percentage of private accelerators now offer compute support. Cloud providers, eager to establish early loyalty among AI-native founders, have likewise expanded credit limits. AWS Activate offers up to $100,000 in credits, and Google for Startups offers up to $350,000 over multiple stages.
Historically, India’s startup ecosystem has been deeply metro-centric. But private accelerators are broadening the map.
As Pal explains, “One of the biggest gaps … isn’t access to capital, it’s access to visibility.” To counter this, PedalStart now runs community programs across Lucknow, Coimbatore, Jaipur, and Chandigarh. This outreach has already created what Pal calls “a ripple effect that can transform entire regions,” particularly for talented founders who lack access to investors or exposure.
However, in 2024, the creation of new tech startups in India increased by 2.1 times compared to 2023, with emerging hubs continually expanding their share. The Indian ecosystem now has over 800 incubators and accelerators, reflecting a growth of approximately 1.5 times since 2019, according to a NASCOMM report.
Physical Hubs as Execution Engines
To overcome infrastructure inequality, private accelerators are also building physical spaces.
PedalStart’s Innovation Hub in Bangalore, free for portfolio startups, is more than a co-working space. It is a site for what Pal describes as “spontaneous discussions, rapid problem-solving, live investor sessions, and startup events that thrive in shared environments.” A second hub in Gurugram extends this model to the Delhi-NCR region.
For founders outside metros, these hubs level playing fields: “A founder from Jaipur in our portfolio gets the same workspace access, mentorship, and ecosystem exposure as someone in Bangalore,” says Pal.
Acceleration is increasingly evolving into a full-stack shared-services ecosystem. Pal explains that PedalStart didn’t wait for this trend. “Most early-stage founders don’t just need capital but also hands-on execution support across areas like legal, finance, product, growth, and hiring… our ecosystem reflects that vision, a shared backbone of support where founders, mentors, and investors don’t just connect, but actively co-build.”
This model is particularly effective for AI startups facing specialised compliance burdens in sectors like fintech, insurance, or healthcare.
Public accelerators, while well-intentioned, often operate at a slower pace. Many founders describe long wait cycles, procedural mentorship, and delays in fund disbursement.
InsightAI experienced this firsthand: “Our startup was selected for the Startup India Seed Fund… however, the fund disbursement process faced repeated delays and… the allocation never reached us,” Chandra says.
The contrast with private acceleration was stark. “PedalStart has been extremely agile… their approach is hands-on and execution-driven,” he adds.
Chandra believes that the balance between public and private accelerators in India’s AI ecosystem is evolving, with a current preference for private programs. Public accelerators, although well-intentioned, often lack flexibility and have slower turnaround times.
In contrast, he says, private accelerators like PedalStart are results-oriented and collaborative, acting as an extension of our team to provide hands-on support with go-to-market strategy, technology, and partnerships, beyond funding.
Where Speed Meets Regulation
In highly regulated sectors, accelerators serve dual roles, speeding up execution while enabling compliance.
Aditya Pandranki, founder and CEO of Doqfy, a global contract lifecycle management SaaS platform, describes private accelerators as essential for iteration speed: “Private accelerators give us the agility to experiment, validate fast, and build investor and customer networks quickly.”
But he notes that legal tech also requires alignment with frameworks like eSignatures, KYC, and data localisation. Hence, “government-backed accelerators become invaluable… They open doors to policymakers, regulatory sandboxes, and institutional buyers.”
Additionally, Doqfy’s hybrid experience with Turbostart and Google for Startups Accelerator demonstrates this complementary model, where Turbostart shaped their “enterprise go-to-market strategy and compliance-first scaling approach,” while Google provided cloud architecture and secure API mentorship.
This momentum signals a maturing ecosystem where accelerators are no longer optional, they are indispensable infrastructure for AI innovation.
Startup India has made significant progress in funding, yet access to capital remains a major hurdle, especially for early-stage entrepreneurs in tier 2 and 3 cities. Despite the recent 14% funding increase in 2024, startups still rely on private capital, with venture capitalists hesitant to invest outside major metropolitan areas.
As the public ecosystem scales its own initiatives, the hybrid model emerging between private agility and public legitimacy may well become the backbone of India’s AI transformation.
The post As Public Support for AI Startups Lags, Private Accelerators Take the Lead appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
