Google wants to firmly sponsor start-ups in their early years. Eligible businesses can use Google Cloud for free the first year and get a hefty discount the second year.
Google wants to attract young start-ups to its cloud. To that end, the Internet giant is going to financially support the companies. Start-ups that qualify can use the Google Cloud Platform for free for a year. Google will cover all costs up to a ceiling of 100,000 euros. In the second year, they will receive a 20 percent discount, again up to a ceiling of 100,000 euros.
Furthermore, Google plans to support startups with a new Startup Success Team. That team will be a point of contact for the companies. Google wants to give the organizations easy access to both technology and the support to use it optimally.
Early binding
For start-ups, the advantage is clear: They can immediately use the cloud and associated benefits in the first few years of their formation without a huge cost. Of course, Google is not offering the support out of the goodness of its heart. By connecting start-ups to its cloud quickly, they are more likely to remain customers of the Google Cloud Platform. After all, when companies embrace certain cloud services in their startup phase, they run the risk of tying themselves to the platform via Google-specific services.
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Google makes Cloud free for fledgling start-ups
To gain access to the free offering, start-ups must have verifiably raised their first capital, from pre-seed to Series A. Furthermore, Google wants start-ups to be no older than 10 years, have a publicly accessible website and be in possession of a Google Cloud Billing Account ID with a domain matching your company’s. Organizations that have completed an IPO, have already received $10,000 or more in credits or are part of a government, NPO or educational institution do not stand a chance. Personal blogs, consulting start-ups or crypto companies are also not welcome.
Will the competition follow?
The offer worth $200,000 is a big jump from the limited trial Google initially offered. Companies not claiming the program can still get started via a trial with $300 in credits. Google is currently unique in the scale of its incentive for start-ups. Given the high pressure to keep growing for all major cloud providers, we are curious to see if AWS and Microsoft Azure will come up with an alternative soon.