Enterprise Solutions
India Fund: OpenAI’s Data Center, IDTA’s $1B Pledge, Citymall’s $47M & Offgrid’s $15M
Updated on Tue, Sep 2, 2025
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As globalization has become the norm of the day, businesses are actively pursuing investments in other countries, as they seek out emerging markets to push their products and services.
As per a report by Bloomberg News, artificial intelligence (AI) leader OpenAI is considering opening a data center in India.
According to people familiar with the matter—who chose to remain anonymous as the information is still private—the company is eyeing an at least 1-gigawatt capacity data center. Currently, the location and starting and completion data aren’t clear, but more details could emerge soon, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is expected to visit the country this month. However, that plan isn’t concrete yet.
In August, OpenAI set up a legal entity in India, with plans to open its first office in New Delhi later this year and has started seeking and hiring local talent.
“Opening our first office and building a local team is an important first step in our commitment to make advanced AI more accessible across the country and to build AI for India, and with India,” said Altman.
The move looks to help the company capitalize on ChatGPT's second-largest market by users—following the United States—and compete with rivals. This includes Perplexity, which recently partnered with telecom giant Airtel to bring its AI-native search engine Perplexity to Airtel’s 360 million users across mobile, broadband, and DTH, with a free one-year Perplexity Pro subscription worth ₹17,000 (roughly $200).
OpenAI’s data center could be one of the biggest in the country—one where tech conglomerates Google and Microsoft already possess a presence.
Not to mention Asia’s richest man—who hails from India—Mukesh Ambani, whose Reliance Industries spoke about a new company called Reliance Intelligence that will focus on AI technology, infrastructure, and talent. The push also comes with deeper partnerships with Google and Meta that will assist in realizing this dream, all of which were announced during Reliance's 48th AGM (Annual General Meeting).
“Reliance Intelligence will build giga-watt scale, AI-ready data centers, powered by green energy and engineered for training and inference at national scale,” said Ambani. “Work has already begun on the gigawatt-scale, AI-ready data centers in Jamnagar. These facilities will be delivered in phases aligned to India’s growing needs, powered by Reliance’s new energy ecosystem.”
India is becoming a popular destination for technology companies and investment firms that are looking to establish their presence in the country and in the Southeast Asia region.
Eight U.S. and Indian venture capital and private equity firms have formed a new industry group to invest in deep tech companies in India, bringing in private capital and expertise, and pledging over $1 billion spread across the next decade, as per a news release by Celeste Capital, one of the key members.
The group, called the India Deep Tech Investment Alliance (IDTA), spans firms such as Celesta Capital, Accel, Blume Ventures, Gaja Capital, Ideaspring Capital, Premji Invest, Tenacity Ventures, and Venture Catalysts.
“The IDTA’s mission is to accelerate entrepreneurship and ecosystem development within key technology sectors throughout the India-U.S. corridor, aligning with the TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology) initiative that was announced by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi in February this year,” reads an excerpt from the release.
The release further notes that members of the IDTA will commit meaningful private capital over 5–10 years; collaborate in pipeline development and diligence; align member activity with GoI (Government of India) goals, guidelines and processes; offer its members a consistent and unified channel for engagement with relevant government entities; collaborate on expert convenings around priority sector development; enable companies in their ecosystem and portfolios to expand into the India market; and provide mentorship, network access, and capital.
The group will be governed by an Advisory Committee of members, where Celesta Capital Managing Partner Arun Kumar— KPMG India’s former CEO—will serve as the inaugural IDTA Chair, while representatives from Accel, Premji Invest, and Venture Catalysts will act as other members of the Advisory Committee.
The move builds on the momentum of the Union Cabinet of the Government of India’s Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) Scheme that includes a ₹1 lakh crore ($11.3 billion) investment in R&D and innovation.
Ahead of this, e-commerce startup Citymall raised $47 million in a Series D funding round, which was led by IDTA partner Accel.
It also witnessed participation from existing investors such as Waterbridge Ventures, Citius, General Catalyst, Elevation Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Jungle Ventures. This comes three years after a $75 million Series C round. However, its valuation has remained at $320 million through this period.
The company offers cost-effective grocery delivery services in various cities across North India, which include Delhi, Gurgaon, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, and Meerut, as well as Sonipat, Mathura, Panipat, Rohtak, Muzaffarnagar, Jhajjar, Faridabad, and Aligarh.
“We have been an investor in Citymall since the Series A, and we wanted to double down with this investment because we think online grocery shopping, and the value segment within that, is the largest consumer market in India,” said Pratik Agarwal of Accel.
Energy company Offgrid Energy Labs announced that it attracted $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Archean Chemical Industries and supported by Ankur Capital.
The company’s proprietary zinc-bromine-based battery system—ZincGel—serves as an alternative to lithium-ion technology, bringing “safe, sustainable, and recyclable energy storage systems that the world needs today and tomorrow.”
With the newly infused capital, the company will be able to set up a demo manufacturing plant in the UK, strengthen its global supply chains, and scale ZincGel for global commercialization.
Offgrid’s ZincGel offers 80–90% of the energy efficiency of conventional lithium batteries but at lower storage costs, while also reducing supply shortcomings, storage issues, and other challenges presented by lithium-based batteries.
Do you think such investments will open the world to further innovation and help solidify India’s position as a global leader in technology?
Let us know in the comments below!
As per a report by Bloomberg News, artificial intelligence (AI) leader OpenAI is considering opening a data center in India.
According to people familiar with the matter—who chose to remain anonymous as the information is still private—the company is eyeing an at least 1-gigawatt capacity data center. Currently, the location and starting and completion data aren’t clear, but more details could emerge soon, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is expected to visit the country this month. However, that plan isn’t concrete yet.
In August, OpenAI set up a legal entity in India, with plans to open its first office in New Delhi later this year and has started seeking and hiring local talent.
“Opening our first office and building a local team is an important first step in our commitment to make advanced AI more accessible across the country and to build AI for India, and with India,” said Altman.
The move looks to help the company capitalize on ChatGPT's second-largest market by users—following the United States—and compete with rivals. This includes Perplexity, which recently partnered with telecom giant Airtel to bring its AI-native search engine Perplexity to Airtel’s 360 million users across mobile, broadband, and DTH, with a free one-year Perplexity Pro subscription worth ₹17,000 (roughly $200).
OpenAI’s data center could be one of the biggest in the country—one where tech conglomerates Google and Microsoft already possess a presence.
Not to mention Asia’s richest man—who hails from India—Mukesh Ambani, whose Reliance Industries spoke about a new company called Reliance Intelligence that will focus on AI technology, infrastructure, and talent. The push also comes with deeper partnerships with Google and Meta that will assist in realizing this dream, all of which were announced during Reliance's 48th AGM (Annual General Meeting).
“Reliance Intelligence will build giga-watt scale, AI-ready data centers, powered by green energy and engineered for training and inference at national scale,” said Ambani. “Work has already begun on the gigawatt-scale, AI-ready data centers in Jamnagar. These facilities will be delivered in phases aligned to India’s growing needs, powered by Reliance’s new energy ecosystem.”
India is becoming a popular destination for technology companies and investment firms that are looking to establish their presence in the country and in the Southeast Asia region.
Eight U.S. and Indian venture capital and private equity firms have formed a new industry group to invest in deep tech companies in India, bringing in private capital and expertise, and pledging over $1 billion spread across the next decade, as per a news release by Celeste Capital, one of the key members.
The group, called the India Deep Tech Investment Alliance (IDTA), spans firms such as Celesta Capital, Accel, Blume Ventures, Gaja Capital, Ideaspring Capital, Premji Invest, Tenacity Ventures, and Venture Catalysts.
“The IDTA’s mission is to accelerate entrepreneurship and ecosystem development within key technology sectors throughout the India-U.S. corridor, aligning with the TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology) initiative that was announced by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi in February this year,” reads an excerpt from the release.
The release further notes that members of the IDTA will commit meaningful private capital over 5–10 years; collaborate in pipeline development and diligence; align member activity with GoI (Government of India) goals, guidelines and processes; offer its members a consistent and unified channel for engagement with relevant government entities; collaborate on expert convenings around priority sector development; enable companies in their ecosystem and portfolios to expand into the India market; and provide mentorship, network access, and capital.
The group will be governed by an Advisory Committee of members, where Celesta Capital Managing Partner Arun Kumar— KPMG India’s former CEO—will serve as the inaugural IDTA Chair, while representatives from Accel, Premji Invest, and Venture Catalysts will act as other members of the Advisory Committee.
The move builds on the momentum of the Union Cabinet of the Government of India’s Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) Scheme that includes a ₹1 lakh crore ($11.3 billion) investment in R&D and innovation.
Ahead of this, e-commerce startup Citymall raised $47 million in a Series D funding round, which was led by IDTA partner Accel.
It also witnessed participation from existing investors such as Waterbridge Ventures, Citius, General Catalyst, Elevation Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Jungle Ventures. This comes three years after a $75 million Series C round. However, its valuation has remained at $320 million through this period.
The company offers cost-effective grocery delivery services in various cities across North India, which include Delhi, Gurgaon, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, and Meerut, as well as Sonipat, Mathura, Panipat, Rohtak, Muzaffarnagar, Jhajjar, Faridabad, and Aligarh.
“We have been an investor in Citymall since the Series A, and we wanted to double down with this investment because we think online grocery shopping, and the value segment within that, is the largest consumer market in India,” said Pratik Agarwal of Accel.
Energy company Offgrid Energy Labs announced that it attracted $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Archean Chemical Industries and supported by Ankur Capital.
The company’s proprietary zinc-bromine-based battery system—ZincGel—serves as an alternative to lithium-ion technology, bringing “safe, sustainable, and recyclable energy storage systems that the world needs today and tomorrow.”
With the newly infused capital, the company will be able to set up a demo manufacturing plant in the UK, strengthen its global supply chains, and scale ZincGel for global commercialization.
Offgrid’s ZincGel offers 80–90% of the energy efficiency of conventional lithium batteries but at lower storage costs, while also reducing supply shortcomings, storage issues, and other challenges presented by lithium-based batteries.
Do you think such investments will open the world to further innovation and help solidify India’s position as a global leader in technology?
Let us know in the comments below!
First published on Tue, Sep 2, 2025
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