NetApp Excellerator Accelerates Deep-Tech Innovation for the AI Era with Cohort 15

NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, today announced the launch of the 15th cohort of its flagship startup accelerator program, NetApp Excellerator, welcoming five startups driving the next wave of AI innovation in the global deep tech ecosystem. The new cohort focuses on AI-powered software engineering, generative AI security, business automation, and helping customers build intelligent data infrastructure. As enterprises move rapidly to adopt AI at scale, Cohort 15 reflects NetApp’s commitment to helping advance the technologies and entrepreneurial talent that will shape the next generation of intelligent data infrastructure.

Selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, the startups in Cohort 15 bring expertise in some of the fastest-growing areas of enterprise technology. Through NetApp Excellerator, founders gain access to  NetApp technology leaders, mentorship, advanced data infrastructure expertise, and opportunities to explore proof-of-concept (PoC) engagements that can accelerate growth and market adoption.

This year’s cohort includes innovators from India, the United States, and Israel working in AI-native software engineering, generative AI security, data protection, workflow automation, and enterprise data intelligence. The five startups selected for Cohort 15 are:

• LightSprint AI – AI-native software engineering platform that automates software development through collaborative AI agents
• Wald.ai – Enterprise-grade semantic data loss prevention (DLP) for AI communications. Wald’s inline DLP detects sensitive data using human level intelligence and context instead of matching patterns
• Lasso Security – Generative AI-first cybersecurity platform focused on securing AI applications, agents, and large language models
• Cogover – AI-powered no-code and low-code workflow automation platform
• QUIPU AI – Knowledge intelligence platform that transforms enterprise data into AI-ready contextual intelligence

Two of the startups in this year’s group, Cogover and QUIPU AI, are also part of ExcellerateHER, an initiative within NetApp Excellerator that expands access to mentorship, technology expertise, and enterprise opportunities for women-founded and women-led startups. By helping more women entrepreneurs build and scale companies in deep tech, ExcellerateHER advances the broader Excellerator mission of expanding opportunity and strengthening the innovation ecosystem. Since its launch, ExcellerateHER has supported 23 women-led startups.

“AI is still altering industries and opening up new opportunities for businesses all over the world,” said Vasanthi Ramesh, Vice President of Engineering and Site Leader at NetApp India. “The startups in Cohort 15 are tackling some of the most significant challenges that enterprises currently face as they deploy AI on a large scale. Through NetApp Excellerator, we are helping founders turn breakthrough ideas into scalable solutions by connecting them with technical expertise, mentorship, and enterprise opportunities, while also expanding and strengthening a more inclusive deep tech innovation system.”

Naren Meadem, Founder & CEO, QUIPU AI, said “Joining NetApp Excellerator has been a great milestone for me as a founder and for QUIPU AI as a startup. The hardest part of deep tech is taking it from the lab into a real enterprise, and we believe NetApp is the right partner to help us make that leap. We are excited about the opportunity to work alongside NetApp’s teams, validate our technology in real enterprise environments, and explore how QUIPU AI’s long-term memory capabilities can power AI initiatives at scale. We look forward to building a meaningful and lasting relationship with NetApp and making a real impact together.”

Mina Nguyen, Co-founder & Chief Growth Officer of Cogover says, “In India, a customer conversation may start with a call, continue through messages and then require another team to step in. The important question is: who is responsible for the next step? We built Cogover to help businesses answer that question. It connects data, applications and workflows on one platform, so people and AI can work with the same information and each business can adapt the process to its needs. Joining the NetApp Excellerator gives us a chance to learn from businesses in India and help their teams follow through on the work that matters.”

Since launching in 2017, NetApp Excellerator has supported 90 startups across 14 cohorts, withparticipating companies collectively raising more than US$600 million in funding. The program has also enabled 30 PoC engagements,led to six commercial contracts within NetApp, and attracted deep-tech talent, including 20+ Ph.D. founders, helping strengthen the broader deep tech innovation and entrepreneurship system. Each cohort runs for six months, during which selected startups work with NetApp internal teams on potential use cases and PoCs, supported by a US$15,000 grant for a potential PoC.

For more information about NetApp Excellerator, visit startup.netapp.in.