Accel and Google select five startups as part of 2026 AI cohort
16 Mar 2026, 01:38 PMThe selected startups include Dodge AI, K-Dense, Persistence AI, Zingroll and Levelplane.ai.
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Accel and Google have picked five artificial intelligence (AI) startups to invest as part of a joint early-stage funding program for Indian and India-origin AI startup founders.
Accel and Google through Accel Atoms and Google's AI Futures Fund, respectively, had announced the partnership in November last year to launch the 2026 AI Cohort.
The selected startups include Dodge AI, K-Dense, Persistence AI, Zingroll and Levelplane.ai, with each receiving up to $2 million in funding co-invested by Accel and Google, and $350,000 in cloud and AI compute credits from Google, a statement said.
They will also benefit from Accel's startup building expertise combined with Google's research, infrastructure, and deep technical support capabilities. The five startups were selected from a pool of thousands of applications.
Dodge AI helps in SAP systems maintenance, and enables large-scale enterprise resource planning (ERP) environments to work smoothly. K-Dense operates an "AI co-scientist" that helps researchers with scientific reasoning and overcome bottlenecks in life sciences, physics, and chemistry.
Levelplane.ai simplifies the sourcing of parts for industrial companies with the ability to grasp engineering intent and automate the entire workflow from technical drawings to finalised sourcing decisions. Persistence AI helps enhance customer care by embedding high-fidelity AI agents within existing SaaS ecosystems.
Zingroll is a streaming platform dedicated to AI-native movies and shows that aims to become a new venue for creators to reach audiences directly. Accel Atoms is Accel's pre-seed and seed program for early-stage founders. The venture capital firm has invested in multiple AI startups in India, including Spyne, Nanonets, Ripik AI and Presentations.AI, among others.
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