Tech giant Google announced on Monday that it has selected four Indian startups for its inaugural Google DeepMind Accelerator: AI for the Planet programme. According to reports from Business Standard, these homegrown startups are joining the cohort of 16 organisations across the Asia Pacific. Over the next three months, the selected startups will receive access to the latest Google AI stack, technical support, and expert mentorship to scale up their critical solutions for a sustainable future. The programme began with a hands-on bootcamp in Singapore in September, followed by tailored virtual support and mentorship, with the Demo Day scheduled for December 10, 2026, in Singapore when participating organisations are expected to showcase their AI-driven solutions.
The four selected startups are addressing climate challenges through AI-powered solutions. Terrastack combines satellite and agronomic data to provide plot-level land intelligence for smallholder farmers, operating within the programme's sustainable agriculture track. Varaha Climate empowers small farmers to earn carbon credits by verifying regenerative agriculture and carbon removal using remote sensing and AI. Farmers for Forests uses AI-powered drones to turn smallholder agroforestry into measurable carbon and biodiversity action at scale, while Climitra Carbon deploys Geo-AI to verify the removal of invasive species and their conversion into biochar. These startups represent different ways AI can be applied to environmental challenges - from understanding land and farms to monitoring forests and developing carbon solutions.
According to Business Standard, these startups are applying artificial intelligence (AI), satellite intelligence, remote sensing and drones to address challenges ranging from sustainable agriculture and agroforestry to carbon removal and biodiversity. The programme provides participants with access to specialised models including AlphaEarth Foundations, ForestCast, SpeciesNet, Perch and AnthroKrishi, among other tools in Google's AI ecosystem. The accelerator is designed specifically for startups, nonprofits and research organisations working on environmental challenges across Asia Pacific, with the focus including scaling up climate and carbon solutions using data and AI to make agricultural decision-making more precise and accessible.
Beyond backing the local climate tech startup ecosystem, Google announced four other initiatives to accelerate India's clean energy transition. As reported by Business Standard, these include expanding AI-powered solar application programming interface (API) across 300 million Indian rooftops to automate roof surveys and layouts, and a long-term agreement with ReNew Power for a 150 megawatt utility solar generation project in Rajasthan. The remaining initiatives involve launching an initiative with Mitti Labs to assist smallholder rice farmers in Telangana adopt alternate wetting and drying to disrupt methane-producing microbes, and opening fresh opportunities for research and innovation proposals on the Centre's Manthan platform. Google is also expanding the work of its Google Center for Climate Technology, which was launched in partnership with the Government of India's Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, adding water stewardship and waste and circularity as new areas for research and innovation proposals.
