By Abhirami G and Akash Sriram

BENGALURU, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google

and venture capital firm Accel will partner to fund at

least 10 early-stage Indian AI startups, marking the U.S.

technology giant's first such funding partnership, top

executives at the companies said on Thursday.

The move comes as several U.S. tech firms like Microsoft ( MSFT )

, Amazon ( AMZN ) and OpenAI make a beeline for the

world's most populous nation, seen as a critical growth market

where nearly a billion users access the internet.

Under the partnership, Google's AI Futures Fund and Accel

will co-invest up to $2 million in each startup, Prayank

Swaroop, partner at Accel, told Reuters in an interview, with

the investments focussed on the wide areas of entertainment,

creativity, work and coding.

The announcement comes after Google in October said it would

invest $15 billion over five years to set up an AI data centre

in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, its biggest-ever

investment in the country.

Its AI Futures Fund, launched six months ago, has funded

over 30 companies, including Indian webtoon startup Toonsutra

and U.S.-based legal-tech firm Harvey. Google has also teamed up

with India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio to provide

free access to Gemini AI for 505 million users.

"We firmly believe that the founders in India, they are

going to be playing a leading role in defining that next era of

global technology," Jonathan Silber, co-founder and director of

Google's AI Futures Fund, said.

"...we think that it's critical to invest in the early

stage. Particularly in key markets like India, so that we can be

at the forefront of investing in the next generation of AI

leaders."

India's AI market is projected to reach $17 billion by 2027,

according to IT industry body Nasscom and consulting firm BCG.

Global AI spend is seen at nearly $1.5 trillion in 2025, and

will exceed $2 trillion in 2026, as per market research firm

Gartner.

(Reporting by Abhirami G and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing

by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Mrigank Dhaniwala)