The top organization in the IT sector, Nasscom, has announced the selection of 26 startups for its inaugural "Generative AI Foundry" program, which aims to support domestic tech startups in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. Selected partners will invest up to $25 million in the most promising startups during the 12-month program, which is partnered with more than 30 organizations from the business and investor communities. Additionally, investors will provide support in a variety of ways, fostering innovation and growth, according to Nasscom. "Unlocking the full potential of generative AI startups for India, and from India for the world, will not only require rigorous assessment of sustainable whitespace opportunities in various sectors but will also require innovative thinking towards inviting patient capital and facilitating compute capabilities at scale", said Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom.

The startups were selected from more than 70 applicants. The average startup in the cohort is two years old and has already raised half a million dollars from institutional investors. The startups offer solutions that generate text, audio, code, video/image, and multimodal output with solid use cases for retail, media and entertainment, banking and financial services, and various enterprise functions.

Some of the program partners include Anthill Ventures, Broadridge, Capgemini, Centific, Chiratae Ventures, Cigniti, eClerx, Endiya Partners, GitHub, Jio GenNext, MathWorks, Microsoft, Pavestone VC, Premji Invest, Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore (SRI-B), Silverneedle Ventures, Sutherland, and VOIS (Vodafone Intelligent Solutions). During the initial six months, startups will engage in intensive boot camps and active mentoring sessions conducted by industry experts and investor mentors. 

They will gain access to cutting-edge technology stacks and GPU compute nodes, enabling them to accelerate their AI projects. The Telangana government collaborated as the state partner for the program, offering startups the opportunity to work on impactful B2G (business-to-government) use cases. The Indian Generative AI landscape has more than 60 startups dedicated to providing solutions and services to their customers across various industry verticals. More than $590 million in funding has already flown into this space, with 2022 being the year with the heaviest funding inflow, according to Nasscom.