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Peak XV invests over $13.2m in five Indian AI startups
Peak XV announced investments in five early-stage AI companies in India during the Impact AI PitchFest on February 17, 2026, at the India AI Impact Summit.
The 120 crore rupee (US$13.23 million) funding aims to support products that actively guide decisions and integrate into workflows across sectors like employment, sales, and collaboration.
The companies focus on AI systems designed for long-term engagement, trust, and practical use in Indian language and culture.
Among them, Companion Labs develops interactive AI experiences for vernacular audiences, while Kello creates a platform for evaluating talent and career opportunities.
Memfold AI is building AI-native workspaces to improve knowledge work, and Round1 offers an AI-driven approach to recruitment.
Zoop enables offline businesses to sell via live video with AI tools. The investments reflect a shift toward AI that addresses real needs at a population scale in India.
🔗 Source: Peak XV
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
This AI investment fits a longer-term plan
- Peak XV put INR 120 crore into the effort. The firm also has Rs 16,000 crore to deploy and has said AI will stay a priority 1.
- AI work already takes up a large share. About one-third of startups in the latest Surge cohorts build in AI 1.
- Managing director Rajan Anandan calls deeptech (advanced technology businesses rooted in scientific or engineering breakthroughs) the “final frontier” for India’s startup ecosystem 1.
- The approach reaches into AI’s building blocks. Peak XV led a $15 million Series A (an early-stage funding round) for C2i Semiconductors, which targets data-center power efficiency 2.
India’s tech scene is moving from captive centers to global products
- Anandan says India’s semiconductor ecosystem is “just getting started,” and likens the moment to “2008 e-commerce” 2.
- That view supports a move away from captive design centers (in-house engineering teams serving a parent company) toward chips built in India for global markets 2.
- He links the shift to a deep bench of engineers plus government-backed design-linked incentives that cut tape-out costs and risk. Tape-outs are the final step of sending a chip design for manufacturing 2.
- Surge has also widened its reach, backing startups in the U.S., U.K., and Australia 1.
