AssemblyAI Startup Program
AssemblyAI · Voice AI
Varies12 months of recurring free credits (amount not published) + startup discounts
Recurring speech-AI API credits for 12 months plus a Forward Deployed Engineer for early-stage voice/audio startups.
Key terms
- Credits cover Speech-to-Text, Streaming STT and Dictation APIs; discounts do not apply to the LLM Gateway
- After credits run out, startup discounts continue and standard pricing phases in gradually
- Partner-VC/accelerator portfolio companies (e.g. Accel, Y Combinator) fast-tracked within 48 hours
Eligibility
- Where
- Worldwide
- Stages
- pre-seed, seed, series-a
- Needs VC/accelerator backing
- No
- Needs partner referral code
- No
- Must be incorporated
- Yes
- AI focus required
- Yes
- Students / researchers
- Not eligible
- Nonprofits
- Not eligible
Also required
- Speech/voice must be core to the product
- Launching (or in production) within 6 months
- Bootstrapped teams welcome
How to apply
Submit a short application (what you build, stage, backers) — no deck needed. Credits appear in console within 48h of approval.
- Benefit
- credits
- Equity-free
- Yes
- Decision time
- Within 1 week (48h for partner portfolio)
- Credit validity
- 12 months
- Deadline
- Rolling
- Status
- Open
Verified 2026-10-22 · source