India’s LocalHost Raises $2.5M in Angel Funding to Accelerate Global Expansion
Indian startup lab operator LocalHost has successfully raised $2.5 million in an angel funding round, with participation from InVideo, Red Bull India, Anthropic, and Eros International.
The round aims to accelerate the company’s international expansion plans and strengthen infrastructure supporting early-stage founders.
LocalHost stated that the new capital will be allocated toward upgrading its technical infrastructure, expanding hardware-related capabilities, scaling operational teams across multiple geographies, and increasing the number of cohorts hosted within its startup lab programs worldwide.
Founded in 2023 by Ki Hayashi, Suhas Somukh, and Hardeep Gambhir, LocalHost serves as a launchpad for young founders from technical and creative backgrounds building products at the intersection of media, software, and hard technologies.
The company operates an intensive, in-person lab model that offers shared workspaces, operational support, access to advanced tools and equipment, and a community-backed fund designed to remove small execution barriers that often slow early startup progress.
Participants work on a wide range of projects, including AI agents, robotics, India-focused local language models, and multidisciplinary media products.
Internationally, LocalHost currently runs labs in Tokyo and Cluj-Napoca, with expansion plans underway in San Francisco, as well as specialized hardware labs in Japan and France. This reflects the company’s ambition to build a globally integrated network for supporting founders at the earliest stages.
Since launching its program in India, LocalHost has attracted more than 30 partners from venture capital firms and the broader startup ecosystem. Alumni startups include Maya Research, Prava Payments, Dawn Labs, Whisperwave, Markov, and Flashmates, operating across AI, fintech, and deep-tech sectors.
LocalHost is betting on its intensive lab model as a way to narrow the gap between idea and execution by combining hands-on mentorship, technical resources, and early access to investors and strategic partners in an increasingly competitive global tech landscape.