Scale up your startup

Startup programs were critical to our early development and success, and their support helped us grow into the Unicorn we are today. As Aiven has now reached a maturity level where we are in a position to give back, we want to support other startups in their journey, helping them to scale up and grow.

In short, Aiven makes setting up cloud databases and the infrastructure needed for them to operate so simple that anyone can do it.

In a way, you could think of us as the plumbers of the internet. Our console lets developers and software architects set up their databases and get familiar tools on all major cloud platforms (like Google, AWS or Azure) in a matter of minutes. It’s simple, secure, and everything is open source, so you keep control of all your data. You can move it between cloud regions and providers, duplicate it, and do whatever you want with it – and you don’t have to jump through hoops to do it.

We provide a selection of reliable, open source products – tools like Apache Kafka, PostgreSQL, MySQL, M3, InfluxDB, OpenSearch, and more – that you can install at the click of a button.

But while we make it simple to set up your data, it’s what you do with it next that’s where the awesome happens.

You can find the application form here.

To be eligible to apply to Aiven Cluster startup program, you need:

1. Proof of affiliation with a approved partner accelerator, incubator, or VC
2. Maximum startup age: 5 years
3. Startup funding no greater than Series A
4. A company website and associated email address

Please check our full list of partners to find out if your investor is a partner of Aiven Cluster.

Yes. There is an option in the application form to invite your investors to partner with Aiven Cluster. You can also ask them to contact us directly at cluster@aiven.io

Unfortunately, we are currently only accepting startups that are supported by affiliate investors, and have received funding up to/including Series A.

Yes - providing you meet the eligibility criteria.

Applications are accepted and considered continually, with new participants selected each month. Once you apply, please give us 14 days to review your application and, if needed, get back to you with any additional questions.

Newly accepted startups join the program on the first Monday of every month. Joint kick-off calls for new participants are held quarterly.

Please note that Aiven reserves the right to change the schedule as necessary.

Yes, seriously! You can use the startup program credits over 12 months to purchase the services, cloud data plans, and additional support that you need to build a modern modern data infrastructure.

We provide the initial $20,000 at the start of the program, and the remaining $80,000 is divided over the rest of the year depending on how you use the services.

What you build with our services is entirely up to you.

With 100K of Aiven credits, you could run a beefy PostgreSQL instance with 2TB of storage and half a terabyte of RAM (business-512) for 6 months. Or, you could take a modest Kafka Business-8 package ... and run that with plenty of spare credits left over for something else.

For a more complete package, how about a serious PostgreSQL business-64 service with workhorse OpenSearch business-32 service, a Redis business-64 for caching to keep your apps running nicely, an M3 for all your metrics (business-16 should do nicely) and Grafana to keep an eye on things - and you can run that for a year.

Startups that scale up in the first 6 months will be promoted through our channels, for example, Linkedin, Twitter, blog posts, etc.

When an applicant submits the application form, the applicant must agree to acknowledge that the use of the Aiven services is subject to Aiven online T&Cs which are to be accepted when signing in to the Aiven console, and that Aiven may always stop giving free credits or cancel any credits given.

The amount of credits awarded to successful applicants is up to $100,000 depending on the use of services.

Aiven reserves the right to cancel credits in order to be able to react in the event participant would breach the online T&Cs or would otherwise use the credits against the purpose of the Cluster program.

Just email cluster@aiven.io and let us know that you’d like to be a partner of the Aiven Cluster startup program and we’ll be in touch. We’d love to hear from you.