India is hosting a four-day AI Impact Summit this week, attracting major players in the artificial intelligence field and signaling the country's push to become a global leader in AI investment. The event, which expects 250,000 visitors, includes executives from leading AI labs and Big Tech companies, as well as heads of state, according to TechCrunch.
The summit features prominent figures such as Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to deliver a speech with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, TechCrunch reported. The event also saw India earmark 1.1 billion for its state-backed venture capital fund, which will invest in artificial intelligence and advanced technologies.
The focus on AI investment comes as the field experiences both significant growth and investor caution. Fractal Analytics, India's first AI company to IPO, had a muted debut on the public markets, listing below its issue price and closing down on its first day, according to TechCrunch. The company's market capitalization is now approximately 1.6 billion, a step down from its recent private-market valuation of 2.4 billion in July 2025.
Meanwhile, venture capital firms are actively seeking opportunities in the AI space. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is looking for future Swedish unicorns, with partner Gabriel Vasquez taking nine flights from NYC to Stockholm in one year, according to TechCrunch. This included visits to companies like Lovable and led to a 2.3 million pre-seed round into Dentio, a Swedish startup using AI for dentists' admin work.
The AI landscape is also seeing the emergence of new research-focused labs. Flapping Airplanes, focused on finding less data-hungry ways to train AI, recently secured 180 million in seed funding, TechCrunch reported. "We want to try really radically different things," said the lab's co-founder.
These developments come as the latest news bulletins from February 16th, 2026, cover a range of global events, including business, politics, and culture, according to Euronews.
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