Indian billionaire family offices ramp up AI bets as funding rises 50% in 2026: Report

Indian billionaire family offices and wealthy investors are increasing their bets on artificial intelligence (AI) startups, with funding from family offices and angel investors into AI companies rising nearly 50% so far in 2026 to about $760 million, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing data from Tracxn Technologies.

The investments are helping finance a new generation of Indian technology companies as the country seeks to strengthen its position in the global AI race, currently dominated by the US and China.

Azim Premji's investment firm Premji Invest, Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai's family office Claypond Capital and QED Innovation Labs, associated with entrepreneur Kunal Shah, are among the investors backing AI-related businesses.

According to Bloomberg, India's AI ecosystem has attracted more than $15 billion in private investment between 2013 and 2025. This is significantly lower than the $757 billion invested in the US and nearly $132 billion in China over the same period, highlighting the funding gap facing India's AI ambitions.

Family offices step up investments

Premji Invest has emerged as a prominent Indian family office investor across the global AI landscape. In June, it participated in a $27 million funding round for Pramaana Labs, an AI verification platform founded by graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Its portfolio also includes global technology companies such as Databricks and Canva, as well as generative AI startups Writer and Spotdraft, according to the report.

Claypond Capital has also increased its activity this year. It participated in content startup Flam's $40 million funding round in September and backed coding platform Emergent's $130 million round in July.

India's AI investment boom

Investors are increasingly looking at AI businesses spanning enterprise software, coding tools, content creation and AI models. The growing interest reflects expectations that demand for AI-powered applications and services will expand as businesses and consumers adopt the technology.

“Several family offices and angel investors now are keen on investing directly as they get comfortable with how India's AI ecosystem is coming into place,” Riddhiman Jain, head of investments at Waterfield Advisors, told Bloomberg.

He added that AI requires patient capital, which remains scarce, while the investment landscape is still at an early stage.

Funding gap remains a challenge

Despite rising investor interest, India faces constraints in funding, computing infrastructure and specialised research talent. The government's ₹10,371-crore IndiaAI Mission is focused on expanding computing capacity, datasets, domestic AI models and related public infrastructure.

Meanwhile, major Indian conglomerates are committing substantial capital to AI-related infrastructure, including data centres and semiconductor manufacturing. Gautam Adani, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and the Tata Group are among the prominent corporate players investing in the sector.

Anirudh Damani, managing partner at Artha Venture Fund, told Bloomberg that India has a cost advantage in developing software, AI applications and services for global companies.

However, sustaining the momentum will require more capital and infrastructure as Indian startups attempt to scale and compete internationally.