Haptik Founder Aakrit Vaish Launches $75 Million Activate Fund for Early-Stage AI Startups in India

Aakrit Vaish, cofounder of conversational AI platform Haptik, and Pratyush Choudhury, former principal investor at Together Fund, announced Activate on Wednesday—a $75 million venture fund targeting early-stage artificial intelligence startups in India. The fund will invest between $500,000 and $3 million in inception-stage companies, focusing specifically on deep technical founders at the ideation level.

The launch signals growing confidence in India's AI startup ecosystem and represents significant capital flowing toward the earliest stages of company formation. By targeting inception-stage ventures, Activate positions itself to capture value from AI innovation at its source rather than competing for later-stage deals with inflated valuations.

Activate's launch comes as India emerges as a major hub for AI innovation, benefiting from world-class technical talent, competitive development costs, massive domestic market opportunity, and increasing global investor interest. The country produces hundreds of thousands of engineering graduates annually, many with strong AI and machine learning capabilities.

The timing capitalizes on several converging trends. Generative AI breakthroughs like ChatGPT have validated AI's commercial potential, driving founder and investor interest. India's digital infrastructure maturation enables AI deployment at scale. Government initiatives support AI research and commercialization. These factors create favorable conditions for early-stage AI investment.

India's position in global AI development has strengthened considerably. While the United States leads in frontier model development and China advances through massive investment, India carves a distinct niche through technical talent, cost-efficient innovation, and domain-specific applications. Indian AI startups increasingly compete globally rather than limiting ambitions to domestic markets.

The $75 million fund size represents substantial capital for early-stage investment in the Indian context. Seed and inception-stage investments typically range from hundreds of thousands to low millions, meaning Activate can support numerous portfolio companies while maintaining meaningful ownership stakes. The deployment strategy suggests backing 25-150 companies depending on average check size.

Aakrit Vaish brings valuable operational experience from building Haptik, one of India's prominent conversational AI platforms. Founded in 2013, Haptik developed chatbot and virtual assistant technology serving enterprises across industries. The company's journey through AI development, customer acquisition, and eventual acquisition by Reliance Jio in 2019 provides insight into building successful AI businesses.

Vaish's technical understanding of AI systems, market dynamics, and scaling challenges positions him to evaluate early-stage opportunities effectively. Founder-turned-investor track records often outperform pure financial investors in technology sectors where operational experience matters. The pattern recognition from building Haptik helps identify promising technical founders and viable business models.

Pratyush Choudhury's background at Together Fund adds complementary investment expertise. Experience evaluating deals, conducting due diligence, supporting portfolio companies, and managing fund operations balances Vaish's operational strengths. Successful venture partnerships typically combine operational and investment expertise rather than doubling down on similar backgrounds.

The partnership structure suggests clear role division—Vaish likely leads technical evaluation and founder relationship building while Choudhury manages fund operations and portfolio support. This division of labor enables focus on respective strengths rather than duplicating efforts.

Activate's focus on "deep technical founders" signals preference for teams with strong AI/ML engineering capabilities rather than business-focused founders attempting to leverage AI superficially. The emphasis suggests backing founders who understand deep learning, neural networks, and advanced AI architectures at fundamental levels.

The inception and ideation stage focus means investing before product development, revenue generation, or market validation. This extremely early investment carries higher risk than seed or Series A stages but enables capturing larger ownership percentages at lower valuations. The strategy requires conviction in founder quality and market opportunity rather than relying on traction metrics.

Investment areas likely span vertical AI applications for specific industries, AI infrastructure and tooling, natural language processing applications, computer vision solutions, and AI-enabled automation platforms. India's strengths in software services, healthcare, fintech, and e-commerce suggest these domains will receive particular attention.

The $500,000 to $3 million check size provides meaningful runway for inception-stage companies. Early-stage startups typically require 12-18 months of capital covering team salaries, initial product development, and early customer acquisition. The range accommodates different team sizes, market approaches, and capital efficiency levels.

India's AI startup ecosystem has attracted increasing investment but remains underfunded relative to potential. While Indian startups raised billions in venture capital overall, AI-specific early-stage funding lags the United States and China. This gap creates opportunity for funds like Activate capturing high-quality deals before valuations inflate.

Competition includes established venture firms adding AI focus, global funds expanding into India, corporate venture arms from tech companies, and angel investors backing AI founders. However, few funds specialize exclusively in inception-stage AI, creating a relatively open market segment. The specialized positioning differentiates Activate from generalist early-stage investors.

The India opportunity extends beyond domestic markets. Indian AI startups increasingly target global customers leveraging India's cost advantages for development while addressing worldwide demand. This global ambition expands addressable markets beyond India's borders, increasing exit potential through acquisitions or public offerings.

Activate's launch contributes to India's AI ecosystem development by providing dedicated early-stage capital, operational support from experienced founders, network access for portfolio companies, and validation for AI entrepreneurship. The presence of specialized AI funds encourages technical talent to pursue entrepreneurship rather than joining established companies.

Fund success depends on sourcing quality dealflow, accurately evaluating technical capabilities, supporting portfolio companies effectively, and achieving exits generating returns. The inception stage requires patience as companies take years developing products, acquiring customers, and reaching later funding rounds or exits.

For Indian AI founders, Activate represents additional capital source willing to invest at the earliest stages when most investors hesitate. The combination of funding and operational expertise from successful AI entrepreneurs provides value beyond capital alone. Access to Vaish's network and experience building Haptik could prove decisive for portfolio companies navigating similar challenges.

The fund launch reflects broader patterns in venture capital including specialization in AI investment, geographic expansion beyond traditional hubs, earlier-stage investment focus, and founder-led fund formation. These trends reshape venture investing as technology evolution and globalization create new opportunities.

The $75 million size positions Activate as a meaningful player in Indian early-stage AI without the deployment pressures of billion-dollar mega-funds. Smaller, focused funds can maintain investment discipline and portfolio attention that larger funds sacrifice for scale. The model emphasizes quality over quantity in portfolio construction.