Google Cloud has announced new partnerships with Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi), the Vietnam National Innovation Center (NIC), and the Startup and Innovation Hub of Ho Chi Minh City (SIHUB). These collaborations aim to create an AI startup innovation corridor in Southeast Asia and connect the region to Silicon Valley.
The Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia is a new initiative that helps founders create and sell their own agentic AI products. By providing support and partnerships with Google Cloud, it offers a way for AI startups in Southeast Asia to grow internationally.
The initiative began during Google for Startups Sprint, a one-day event at Google’s Asia Pacific headquarters that connects startups with investors and government leaders. The event highlighted AI startups from the Google for Startups alumni network, which includes thousands of founders from 85 countries who have benefited from Google’s accelerator programs.
Since 2018, these programs have helped over 200 early-stage startups in Southeast Asia create new products, raise $6.6 billion in funding, and generate 11,300 jobs. They have also aided startups in acquiring customers and entering new markets, including Advance, Analitica, Atlas, BenKon, Betterdata, and many more.
Sami Kizilbash, Head of Developer Ecosystems, Asia Pacific, Google Cloud, stated: “Building on this success, Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia aims to support Seed to Series B AI startups from various industries and six countries. Founders often find it difficult to move from finding a market fit to expanding internationally. This program helps bridge that gap by providing access to top resources and global tech hubs, allowing startups to grow their AI solutions at a larger scale. Through partnerships and various initiatives, we are supporting entrepreneurs and developers at all stages of growth. We aim to build communities that make Southeast Asia a trusted area for effective AI solutions that create real societal and economic value.”
Applications are now open for the first cohort of 25 startups to join the three-month Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia program starting in August 2026. EnterpriseSG, Komdigi, and NIC and SIHUB will offer additional support for startups from Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
The Southeast Asia-Silicon Valley innovation corridor
The program includes an in-person residency in California, where founders will engage in technical training at leading tech hubs, including Google’s campuses in Mountain View and San Francisco. They will also connect with venture capital firms in Sand Hill Road and Palo Alto. This experience allows them to test and improve their products while building important relationships for international growth.
Differentiated resources and advantages for enterprise scale
The program equips eligible startups with several distinct advantages designed to drive product engineering excellence and immediate market impact:
- Full-stack AI capabilities: Startups gain access to Google Cloud’s unique full-stack AI—including Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), Agentic Data Cloud, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, and Google Antigravity—supported by up to US$350,000 in cloud credits under the Google for Startups Cloud Program for end-to-end training, fine-tuning, and serving of secure and grounded AI agents.
- Early access to frontier technology: Startups are enrolled in Trusted Tester and Early Access programs, providing a first-mover advantage by allowing them to build using Google’s next-generation AI models—including its latest Gemini 3.5 models—and agentic enterprise tooling before they reach the general market.
- Technical upskilling: Through hands-on bootcamps at Google Developer Space, Garuda Spark Innovation Hub (GSIH), NIC facilities, and SIHUB headquarters, founders and their teams will be equipped with advanced skills in essential disciplines like agentic coding, AI context engineering, large language model operations (LLMOps), and the orchestration of multi-agent systems.
- High-touch engineering advisory: Startups engage in structured product development sprints and architectural reviews with technical leads from Google Cloud’s engineering center and Google DeepMind’s AI research lab in Singapore, supported by insights from Google’s global AI teams.
- Cross-functional ecosystem support: Startups can capitalize on mentorship from product teams across Android, Google Ads, Google Pay, and Google Play, alongside a partner network of venture capital firms, conglomerates, unicorns, and specialist consultancies to overcome critical scaling hurdles—from intellectual property management to talent acquisition and growth marketing.
- High-visibility commercial stage: Startups get the opportunity to showcase proprietary products to a curated audience of venture capitalists, angel investors, and enterprise customers at a Google-hosted demo day and startup summit in Singapore.
Wong Zeng Yi, Assistant Managing Director, Enterprise Singapore, said: “Our partnership with Google Cloud has benefitted close to 60 Singapore AI startups. We’re pleased to deepen this collaboration to enable the next wave of startups to gain access to the networks and technical expertise needed to scale and enter new markets. EnterpriseSG will continue to work with like-minded partners and industry players to foster a thriving AI ecosystem in Singapore where startups can innovate and establish themselves as global players.”
Edwin Hidayat Abdullah, Director General, Digital Ecosystem, Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, said: “Strengthening the AI ecosystem is an important step in accelerating Indonesia’s inclusive and sustainable digital transformation. As one of Southeast Asia’s largest digital economies, Indonesia continues to encourage the development and adoption of AI solutions that create meaningful impact across key sectors, including education, food security, and healthcare. Through Google Cloud’s continued support in capacity building, providing access to frontier technology, and ecosystem development, more Indonesian founders are expected to build and scale digital innovations that deliver broader benefits to communities across the country.”
Vu Quoc Huy, Director, Vietnam National Innovation Center, said: “The ‘AI for the Future’ initiative by NIC and Google has supported more than 500 Vietnamese startups. Building on this momentum, Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia serves as a bridge between cutting-edge tech startups in our priority sectors and partners in Singapore and Silicon Valley. By facilitating collaboration in advanced fields like agentic AI and embodied AI, we’re helping to transform research breakthroughs into the next wave of enterprise and industrial solutions, boosting Vietnam’s national competitiveness and driving market productivity gains.”
Dang Thi Luan, Director, Startup and Innovation Hub of Ho Chi Minh City, said: “As the nucleus of Ho Chi Minh City’s innovation ecosystem—now ranked among the world’s top 100—SIHUB is committed to fast-tracking the transition from technical proof-of-concept to commercial success. Our collaboration with Google Cloud creates a two-way corridor: a conduit for high-potential Vietnamese AI startups to scale internationally, and a trusted gateway for their regional peers to enter our vibrant market. Through Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia, we’re empowering Vietnam’s entrepreneurial tech talent to architect sophisticated agentic AI solutions for sectors like fintech and smart logistics while facilitating the high-caliber exchanges they need to grow and compete sustainably on the world stage.”