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Google Launches AI Futures Fund to Support Startups
Google has launched the AI Futures Fund, a new initiative aimed at startups building with Google DeepMind’s latest AI tools. The program is designed to support companies from seed to late stage, combining potential investment with access to AI models, Google Cloud credits and direct collaboration with Google experts.
That mix matters. Startup funding alone can keep a young company alive, but it does not automatically solve the practical challenge of building an AI product. Teams working with advanced models need computing capacity, technical guidance and a route to product development that does not collapse under infrastructure costs. Google is positioning the AI Futures Fund as a way to provide those pieces together rather than treating investment as a standalone transaction.
The original announcement framed the fund as a powerful new route for founders, and its most notable feature may be its structure: it is not a cohort-based program. There are no batches, no fixed application windows and no deadline-driven intake cycle. Google will evaluate startups on a rolling basis, with the possibility of investment for companies that align with its goals.
That approach is a meaningful departure from the accelerator model that has shaped much of the startup ecosystem. Cohort programs can create useful urgency and a shared network among founders, but they can also force companies to apply according to a calendar rather than when their product, team or technical direction is ready. A rolling process gives Google more flexibility to meet startups at different stages, from early experimentation to more mature businesses looking to expand.
It also gives Google considerable discretion. The company has not revealed the total size of the AI Futures Fund, and the amount of support will vary according to a startup’s stage and needs. That means founders should not read the initiative as a single, standardized package. One company may need model access and Cloud credits; another may be a candidate for direct funding and close work with DeepMind or Google Labs experts.
Startups can apply starting May 12.
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What the AI Futures Fund Offers
Selected startups will receive early access to DeepMind AI models, along with Google Cloud credits. Some may also receive direct funding from Google, while experts from DeepMind and Google Labs will work with selected teams.
Early model access is one of the more consequential parts of that offer. In AI, a company’s product can be shaped by what models it can use, how quickly it can test them and whether it can get help when an ambitious technical idea runs into limitations. For startups, access to a major platform provider can shorten the distance between a prototype and a product that can actually be operated for customers.
There is a trade-off, though. Startups benefit from close access to a large technology company’s tools and expertise, but they also need to think carefully about dependence on any one provider. The AI Futures Fund makes Google’s ecosystem more attractive by tying models, cloud infrastructure and expert support together. That is useful for founders who want a coherent technology stack; it can also make the relationship with Google central to how a company builds and grows.
Two companies have already joined the program: Viggle, a platform for meme creation, and Toonsutra, a webtoon application. Their inclusion is a helpful signal that the fund is not confined to one narrow category of AI startup. Meme creation and webtoons are consumer-facing products with very different formats and audiences, yet both can make use of AI tools in ways that are closely tied to creative production and user experience.
That range is important because the most visible AI conversation often centers on model builders and enterprise software. Google’s early examples suggest the AI Futures Fund can also support companies using AI as part of a broader product, including products rooted in entertainment, media and online culture. The relevant question is not simply whether a startup calls itself an AI company, but whether DeepMind technology can help it build something that users want.
Google’s Growing AI Commitments
The AI Futures Fund sits within a wider set of Google commitments around AI development, education and startup support. Over the past year, Google has invested heavily in the field, not only through commercial efforts but through programs aimed at researchers, nonprofits and founders.
In November, Google.org committed $20 million to support AI researchers. In September, CEO Sundar Pichai launched the $120 million Global AI Opportunity Fund, which helps expand AI education and training worldwide. These efforts point to a broader concern beyond the development of models themselves: access to AI skills and the ability of people and organizations to use the technology.
Google.org also introduced a $20 million Generative AI Accelerator Program for nonprofits building AI solutions. Meanwhile, Google for Startups Founders Funds backs startups from diverse backgrounds, including AI firms. Each initiative addresses a different part of the AI economy. Research support can strengthen the underlying work; training programs can widen participation; nonprofit funding can focus attention on public-interest uses; and startup backing can help turn ideas into products and businesses.
In February, Google confirmed that it would begin investing in AI startups in the U.S. through the Founders Fund. More details are expected soon. The AI Futures Fund adds another route into Google’s startup support network, with a sharper emphasis on companies using DeepMind technology and working directly with Google teams.
For Google, this is also a strategic way to put its AI tools in the hands of builders who may create the next wave of consumer and business applications. The company is not merely offering software for startups to purchase. It is offering the possibility of capital, infrastructure and access to specialists. That can make the fund appealing to founders, while helping Google build relationships with companies at formative moments in their development.
What Founders Should Watch
The fund’s open-ended format is likely to appeal to startups that do not fit neatly into a scheduled accelerator cycle. Yet the lack of a public total fund size or a standard level of support means applicants should approach it as a selective strategic program rather than an automatic source of resources. Alignment with Google’s goals will be central to whether a company receives investment.
For founders, the value proposition is clearest when the company has a concrete reason to use DeepMind AI models, Google Cloud and Google expertise together. The strongest applications will likely be those that can explain not only that they use AI, but why access to these particular tools and collaborators would materially improve the product they are trying to build.
Google’s AI Futures Fund expands the company’s support network for AI development at a time when startups need more than capital to compete. Funding remains important, but so do model access, cloud resources and technical help. With applications opening May 12, the program offers founders a direct path to seek all of those forms of support from Google.
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