Granite Asia and Google's AI Futures Fund to Co-Invest Up to $2M in Asian AI Startups

Asia's AI founders just got a bigger chequebook. Granite Asia, the ~$11 billion private capital platform spun out of GGV Capital's Asia business, has partnered with Google's AI Futures Fund to co-invest up to $2 million per startup in early-stage AI companies across Asia, the companies announced on Tuesday, October 6, 2026.

Selected startups don't just get capital. They also receive up to $350,000 in Google Cloud and Gemini credits, early access to Google's latest AI models, and joint development opportunities with Google and Google DeepMind teams — the kind of technical and distribution firepower that is almost impossible for an early-stage startup to buy.

The programme runs through Granite Asia's Fellows Program, which targets five focus areas: AI x Science, AI x Industry, AI x Work, AI x Creativity and AI x Entertainment. Startups are picked for the Fellows Program first, then become eligible for the co-investment and the credits package.

Granite Asia's Jenny Lee framed the partnership as a bet that the next generation of AI companies will be built in Asia and scaled globally — putting the region's founders on a path to compete with the best-funded labs in the US.

For Indian AI founders, this is the third serious global programme to court them this month, alongside Google's own AI Futures Fund activity in India and Accel's ATOMs partnership. With AI the most-funded Indian sector in Q3 2026 at $438 million across 35 deals, the signal is unmistakable: global capital wants a piece of Asian AI, and it's willing to bring its best models along.