Google, Accel India accelerator chooses 5 startups and none are ‘AI wrappers’

Many artificial intelligence startup ideas are still little more than superficial “wrappers” built on top of existing models. But as AI model makers add more features, investors are wary of startups that could so easily become obsolete.

Case in point: When reviewing more than 4,000 applications for the joint AI accelerator for Indian startups, run by Google and venture firm Accel, “wrapper” ideas dominated. But none of them were among the five startups for the latest cohort, Accel partner Prayank Swaroop told TechCrunch (pictured above).

Google and Accel’s AI-focused Atoms program, announced in November, aims to support early-stage startups building AI products related to India. Startups selected for the latest cohort will receive up to $2 million in funding from Accel and Google’s AI Futures Fund, along with up to $350,000 in cloud and AI computing credits from Google, the companies said.

About 70% of the rejected applications were “wrappers”: startups that layered AI features like chatbots on top of existing software, but “didn’t reimagine new workflows using AI,” Swaroop said.

Many of the remaining applications that were rejected, according to Swaroop, fell into crowded categories such as marketing automation and AI recruiting tools, areas where investors saw little new. Startups in these sectors often struggle to differentiate themselves, he says.

This is perhaps not surprising. This year’s program received nearly four times as many applications as Accel’s previous Atoms cohorts – with many early-stage founders.

India’s growing AI ecosystem remains largely focused on enterprise applications and Swaroop said its applications reflect that. About 62% of the entries focused on productivity tools and another 13% on software development and coding, meaning that about three-quarters of the applications were enterprise software ideas rather than consumer products. (Swaroop had hoped to see more ideas for healthcare and education.)

Jonathan Silber, co-founder and director of Google’s AI Futures Fund, said the five selected startups align closely with areas where Google expects AI to see deeper adoption in the real world.

The program does not require startups to use Google’s models exclusively, Silber said, noting that many companies combine multiple models depending on the workflow. The goal, he said, is to gather feedback from startups on how Google’s models perform in real applications.

Insights from these startups can then be fed back to Google DeepMind teams to help improve future models, creating what Silber described as a “flywheel” between startup experimentation and AI development. “If a company uses an alternative model, it means Google has work to do to build the best model on the market,” he told TechCrunch.

This year’s selected startups are:

• K-Densethat builds an AI “co-scientist” to accelerate research in areas such as life sciences and chemistry;
• Dodge.aithat develops autonomous agents for enterprise ERP systems;
• Persistence laboratorieswhich focuses on voice AI for call center operations;
• Zingrollwhich is building a platform for AI-generated movies and shows;
• Level flatthat applies AI to industrial automation in automotive and aerospace manufacturing.