Zeroth.ai: Asia's First AI Accelerator and Its India Chapter (A Retrospective)

Zeroth.ai (styled Zeroth.AI) holds a distinctive place in Asia's startup history as the continent's first AI and machine learning-focused accelerator. Founded by Tak Lo — previously a Director at Techstars London, bringing world-class accelerator experience to Asia — the program offered pre-seed capital plus operational, strategic, and networking support specifically for early-stage AI startups. At a time when most accelerators were generalist, Zeroth.ai's AI-only focus was pioneering.

Important: Zeroth.ai is now defunct as an operating program. This profile is a retrospective, not an active funding opportunity. In early 2021, Brinc took over management of investments into 50 AI-focused companies from Zeroth.ai. Animoca Brands had acquired a 67% stake for approximately $1 million ($720K cash plus ~$360K in Animoca shares) in 2018, acquiring Venture Classic, Zeroth's management company. The program was absorbed and wound down, not renamed or continued.

Zeroth.ai's model was a classic accelerator refined for AI. It ran a 3-month program providing $20,000–$120,000 per company for an average 6% equity stake. Early batches were intimate — 10 teams at $20K each — scaling to 20 teams at $120K each as the program matured. The firm also ran a blockchain arm with 8 blockchain-tech investments. Across its lifetime, the program backed 63 companies across 18 countries, with approximately 50 AI-company investments by 2021. Animoca underwrote $2 million of investment into Zeroth's special purpose vehicle.

The program's India chapter was particularly significant. #Z04 was Zeroth.ai's first-ever accelerator programme in India — a 3-month cohort culminating in a Bengaluru demo day, selecting 28 startups from Japan, Hong Kong, and India, including 8 Indian startups. This was a landmark moment for India's AI ecosystem, bringing international AI mentorship to Bengaluru founders.

Verified Indian participants from the #Z04 cohort include Fasal (Bengaluru, AI/ML and IoT for agriculture — which went on to raise a $1.6 million seed round in October 2019), Codeplay Labs ("bolo" voice-assistant technology), Deepsight AI Labs ("SuperSecure" computer-vision CCTV platform), Deepsync Technologies (voice-cloning for voice applications), and Kvinna (Pune, AI/ML-powered medical advice for women, led by CMO Dr. Mrudula Kulkarni).

Sachin Unni served as Partner for India, building the local pipeline. The mentor network was world-class, including Antoine Blondeau (Sentient.ai), Jaan Tallinn (Skype/Kazaa co-founder), Eamonn Carey (Techstars), and Nathan Benaich (AI investor and author).