Runpod Startup Program — Starter Tier
Runpod · GPU cloud
$1K$1,000 in free Runpod credits
Free $1,000 credit for pre-Series A startups with a working product and near-term GPU needs, usable across Pods, Serverless, Clusters, Public Endpoints and Storage.
Key terms
- Best suited to pre-Series A teams with a working product
- Designed mainly for first-time Runpod customers
- Workloads should be production inference or model training/fine-tuning
- Selective; acceptance rate not disclosed
Eligibility
- Where
- Worldwide
- Stages
- pre-seed, seed
- 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
How to apply
Click 'Apply now' on the startup program page; if not accepted you can still use self-serve pay-as-you-go.
- Benefit
- credits
- Equity-free
- Yes
- Decision time
- —
- Credit validity
- —
- Deadline
- Rolling
- Status
- Open
Verified 2026-10-22 · source