In a seismic shift for India’s booming AI ecosystem, serial entrepreneur Aakrit Vaish (co-founder of Haptik) and seasoned investor Pratyush Choudhury (ex-Principal at Together Fund) have unveiled Activate, a powerhouse $75 million venture fund laser-focused on fueling early-stage AI and deep tech innovators across the country. Announced on December 3, 2025, this isn’t just another fund—it’s a war chest for “technical crack teams” building the next wave of AI disruption, from ideation to inception.
Vaish, who scaled Haptik into a conversational AI giant acquired by Reliance Jio in 2019 and now advises India’s AI Mission, is no stranger to the trenches. “I’ve built Haptik, invested in 100+ startups, and contributed to our sovereign AI strategy,” he shared on X. “Today, all of it comes together in my next act: Activate, India’s AI venture fund.” Choudhury, with stints at AWS and a track record in GenAI across Asia-Pacific, brings the operational muscle. Together, they’re targeting founders who dream in code—engaging even before company formation and deploying $500K to $3M in seed cheques.
What makes Activate stand out? It’s built on a razor-sharp thesis: India’s AI gold rush spans five layers of opportunity. At the base: physical infrastructure like data centers and cooling systems. Layer up to rapid compute (GPUs, edge processing), foundational models (LLMs tailored for Indic languages), infrastructure tools (APIs, vector DBs), and finally, killer applications (enterprise AI, consumer bots). “We’re backing teams that can anchor India’s role in global deep tech,” Vaish emphasized, eyeing startups with international scale from day zero.
The fund’s secret sauce? A star-studded LP roster blending Silicon Valley firepower with Indian hustle: Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures), Aravind Srinivas (Perplexity AI), Ashish Vaswani (Essential AI, Transformer co-inventor), Dhaval Shroff (Tesla AI), Manohar Paluri (Meta), Ramesh Raskar (MIT Media Lab), Shyamal Hitesh Anadkat (OpenAI), Shailendra J. Singh (Peak XV), Srikanth Velamakanni (Fractal), Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm), and Vishal Misra (Columbia University). This network isn’t passive—it’s hands-on mentorship for portfolio companies on research, infra, and go-to-market.
Guided by four pillars—velocity (rapid iteration), depth (technical chops), taste (product-market fit), and influence (global networks)—Activate is already in motion. Pre-fund, the duo angel-invested in gems like Composio (AI agent orchestration), ZuAI (voice AI), Emergent (enterprise automation), Park+ (EV infra), Rapidclaims (insurtech AI), and Spendflo (procurement AI). First institutional bets are under wraps, but whispers point to foundational model plays and AI infra tools.
Timing is impeccable. India’s AI market is exploding—fueled by sovereign missions and hyperscaler bets. Yet early-stage deep tech lags, with founders starved for patient capital. Activate fills that void, prioritizing “AI-native” bets over hype: applications, models, and enablers.
Vaish’s journey—from bootstrapping Haptik to co-creating Mumbai’s TEAM accelerator—mirrors the fund’s ethos: build for India, scale worldwide. “AI in India will be built by technical crack teams,” he declared. With LPs like Khosla and Srinivas, Activate isn’t just funding—it’s forging India’s AI sovereignty.
As 2026 looms, expect a flurry of deploys. Activate isn’t chasing unicorns; it’s minting them—one deep tech seed at a time. Founders, take note: Your inbox just got a golden ticket.
Add startuptimes.in as a reliable source on Google – Click here
Last Updated on Friday, December 5, 2025 4:20 pm by Startup Times
About The Author
