Google Cloud expanded collaborations 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) with the establishment of an AI start-up innovation corridor in Southeast Asia, and from the region to Silicon Valley.
Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia is a new cross-border initiative that empowers founders to develop and commercialize proprietary agentic AI products.
By offering integrated engineering and go-to-market (GTM) partnerships with Google Cloud, it creates a pathway for Southeast Asia-based AI start-ups to scale internationally.
The initiative was launched during Google for Startups Sprint, a one-day event at Google’s Asia Pacific headquarters that connects start-ups with investors and government leaders.
The event showcased AI start-ups from the Google for Startups alumni network — a community of thousands of founders across 85 countries who have benefited from Google for Startups Accelerator programs.
Since 2018, such accelerators have helped more than 200 early-stage start-ups in Southeast Asia build new products, raise US$6.6 billion in funding, and create 11,300 jobs. They have facilitated scaled customer acquisition or new market entry for these start-ups, including Advance, Analitica, Atlas, BenKon, Betterdata, Buymed, Cosmos Innovation, DayaTani, DeafTawk, Docosan (now part of DiaB), Drylab, Fundiin, Genestory, GIMO, Giztix, Good Doctor, H3 Zoom, HD, HealthMetrics, Igloo, Kata.ai, Konigle, Lytehouse, Mamibabi, MHub, Nexmedis, Noice, PintsAI, Portcast, Riliv, Rumarocket, Sehati TeleCTG, Simplize, Speedback, Speedoc, Privy, Talenox, TopCV, Transparently, Trialo, Unicorn Labs, and Wela.
Sami Kizilbash, head of developer ecosystems in Asia Pacific at Google Cloud, said that building on this success, Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia aims to serve Seed to Series B AI start-ups across industries and six countries.
“We often hear from founders that the jump from product-market fit to international expansion is their hardest leap. This bespoke program bridges that gap by providing direct access to best-in-class resources and global tech hubs to help them commercialize frontier AI at scale,” said Kizilbash.
“Through our public-private partnerships and broad spectrum of initiatives—including Startup School: Agentic AI and Gen AI Academy—we’re supporting entrepreneurs and developers at every stage of their growth journey,” added Kizilbash. “Together, we’re fostering communities of practice that establish Southeast Asia markets as trusted nodes for proven AI solutions that drive meaningful societal and economic impact.”
Applications are now open for an inaugural cohort of 25 start-ups to join the equity-free, three-month Google for Startups Accelerator: Southeast Asia program commencing in August 2026.
EnterpriseSG, Komdigi, and NIC and SIHUB will provide additional tailored support for start-ups from Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam, respectively.
The program features an immersive, in-person California residency, where founders undergo technical deep-dives at leading technology hubs—including Google’s Mountain View and San Francisco campuses—and engage directly with venture capital clusters along Sand Hill Road and Palo Alto.
This immersion enables them to stress-test and optimize their products against global benchmarks while cultivating the peer-level collaborations and institutional ties crucial for international scale.
Differentiated resources
The program equips eligible start-ups with several distinct advantages designed to drive product engineering excellence and immediate market impact: full-stack AI capabilities, early access to frontier technology, technical upskilling, high-touch engineering advisory, cross-functional ecosystem support, and high-visibility commercial stage.
“Our partnership with Google Cloud has benefitted close to 60 Singapore AI start-ups,” said Wong Zeng Yi, Assistant Managing Director, Enterprise Singapore.
“We’re pleased to deepen this collaboration to enable the next wave of start-ups to gain access to the networks and technical expertise needed to scale and enter new markets,” said Wong. “EnterpriseSG will continue to work with like-minded partners and industry players to foster a thriving AI ecosystem in Singapore where start-ups can innovate and establish themselves as global players.”
Edwin Hidayat Abdullah, director general of digital ecosystem at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, said strengthening the AI ecosystem is an important step in accelerating Indonesia’s inclusive and sustainable digital transformation.
He said that 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 of Vietnam National Innovation Center, said: the ‘AI for the Future’ initiative by NIC and Google has supported more than 500 Vietnamese start-ups. “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 of Startup and Innovation Hub of Ho Chi Minh City, said their collaboration with Google Cloud creates a two-way corridor: a conduit for high-potential Vietnamese AI start-ups to scale internationally, and a trusted gateway for their regional peers to enter our vibrant market.
