How much in cloud credits can an Israeli startup get?

It depends on funding and on your investors. Without institutional funding, AWS Activate Founders offers up to $5,000 and Google for Startups Start up to $2,000. With a VC round or a partner referral, AWS Activate Portfolio offers up to $200,000, Google for Startups Cloud Scale up to $200,000 over two years, and the AI-first tier up to $350,000.

Do Israel Innovation Authority grants count as funding for Google Cloud credits?

No. Google for Startups Cloud Scale and AI tiers count institutional or VC funding, including SAFEs from funds. Angel, friends and family, crowdfunding and government grants do not qualify for those tiers.

How do I get AWS Activate Portfolio credits in Israel?

Ask your VC, accelerator or angel group whether it is an AWS Activate Provider. If it is, it can give you an Org ID to use in the Portfolio application. Without one, the Founders package is the available route.

Is there an Israel-only credit program?

We did not find an Israel-only credit program from the major cloud vendors. Israeli startups use the global programs. Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe and Israel is one of the few programs that lists Israel explicitly.

Startup Credits for Israeli Founders: Cloud, AI and Software Programs (2026), Velo Labs

The short answer: an Israeli startup can get credits from almost every major cloud, AI and software vendor, but the largest packages are rarely open to everyone. Of the 41 programs below, 14 are open to any startup that meets basic criteria, 6 are open at a base level with a larger tier through a VC or accelerator, 7 work only through a partner VC or accelerator, 6 require institutional funding, and 8 review each application. The biggest single packages are Google for Startups Cloud (up to $350,000 for AI-first startups), Cloudflare (up to $350,000) and AWS Activate Portfolio (up to $200,000).

We checked every program on the vendor's official page on October 21, 2026, and wrote the summaries ourselves. Programs change often, so confirm the terms on the official page before you apply. Spotted a change or a missing program? Let us know.

How to read the access level

Open.Self-serve for any startup that meets the basic criteria, such as company age or funding raised.
Open; top tier via VC.A base offer anyone can claim, and a larger one that needs a referral from a partner VC or accelerator.
Via VC or accelerator.Available only with a referral or code from an organization in the vendor's partner network.
Needs institutional funding.Requires a round from a VC or institution, often within a set time window.
Reviewed, limited.The vendor reviews each application and accepts a limited number.

The programs

Cloud

Program	Up to	Access	Who qualifies
AWS Activate Founders	Up to $5,000	Open	Bootstrapped or self-funded, pre-Series B, founded within the last 10 years, AWS account on a paid tier plan, new to Activate credits (or requesting more than previously received). Israel: Available to Israeli startups; AWS operates an Israel (Tel Aviv) region.
AWS Activate Portfolio	Up to $200,000	Via VC or accelerator	Pre-Series B, founded within the last 10 years, paid-tier AWS account, and an Org ID issued by an Activate Provider (accelerator, angel group or VC firm). A separate invite-only AI tier (above $200,000) exists via an AWS account manager. Israel: Israeli startups access this tier through an Israeli or foreign VC/accelerator that is an Activate Provider - ask the investor for its Activate Org ID; without one, only the Founders tier is open.
Google for Startups Cloud Program - Start tier	Up to $2,000	Open	Tech startup with a working MVP that plans to raise venture funding soon, founded within the last 24 months, and has not received Google Cloud credits beyond the free trial.
Google for Startups Cloud Program - Scale tier	Up to $200,000	Needs institutional funding	Institutional/VC-funded (equity or SAFE): pre-seed or seed within the last 5 years or Series A within the last 12 months, founded within 5 years, not more than $5,000 in prior Google Cloud credits. Angel, friends and family, crowdfunding and government grants do not qualify for this tier. Israel: Rounds funded only by angels or by Israel Innovation Authority grants do not count toward Scale eligibility; a VC/institutional round or SAFE is needed.
Microsoft for Startups (Founders Hub)	Up to $150,000	Open; top tier via VC	Microsoft says sign-up is open to all with no funding required; the official page does not publish a tier breakdown. The base self-serve offer is smaller (partner listings such as Mercury describe up to $5,000), while the higher amounts are unlocked with an investor referral code. Israel: Requires HQ in an Azure-served country; Israel qualifies. Ask your Israeli VC/accelerator whether it holds a Microsoft for Startups investor referral code.
Cloudflare Startup Program	Up to $350,000	Open; top tier via VC	Incorporated within 10 years, funded within the last 12 months up to Series B, live website and public presence, first-time applicant. $10K tier: bootstrapped or raised under $1M; $100K tier: raised under $5M from an affiliated partner; $350K tier: raised $5M+ from an affiliated partner.
DigitalOcean Startups Program	Varies	Open; top tier via VC	Raised $10M or less, new to DigitalOcean credits, a working company website and matching email; AI-native startups prioritized; agencies and consultancies excluded. Partner-backed startups apply via their partner, others apply directly.
Oracle Startup Growth Engine	Varies	Reviewed, limited	Venture-backed, high-growth tech companies with a customer-validated software, data, cloud-native or AI product and a defined workload to build or migrate on OCI; Oracle reviews each application. Israel: Launched in October 2026 as part of Oracle PartnerNetwork; the EMEA page is the one verified (Israel is typically covered by Oracle EMEA, but this is not stated explicitly).

AI models and AI infrastructure

Program	Up to	Access	Who qualifies
Google for Startups Cloud Program - AI (AI-first Scale)	Up to $350,000	Needs institutional funding	Same funding and age rules as the Scale tier, plus using or planning to use Gemini as a foundation of the core product; third-party models are not covered by credits. Israel: Same Scale-tier funding caveat: angel-only or IIA-grant-only funding does not qualify.
Anthropic VC Partner Program credits	Up to $100,000	Via VC or accelerator	Must be backed by a fund that Anthropic has accepted into its VC partner program; the fund applies and allocates benefits to eligible portfolio companies. Israel: Ask your Israeli investor whether it is an Anthropic VC partner; Israel is not an excluded location in the terms.
Claude for Startups	Varies	Reviewed, limited	Cohort-based membership; the official page states the current cohort is full and applications are closed until the next cohort opens. Credits cannot be used on AWS, Google Cloud or Azure. Israel: Israel is not on Anthropic's excluded-country list in the program terms.
OpenAI for Startups	Varies	Via VC or accelerator	Portfolio company of a VC in OpenAI's partner network (named examples include Thrive, Sequoia, a16z, Kleiner Perkins, Conviction); requires a referral code from that VC.
NVIDIA Inception	Varies	Open	Incorporated company under 10 years old with at least one developer and a working website; any stage, no revenue requirement, no fees or equity.
Modal for Startups	Varies	Needs institutional funding	New to Modal; seed to Series A startups that raised any VC money from Modal's partner network or more than $1M from any fund; a custom tier for $30M+ or post-Series B companies backed by partner VCs.
Together AI Startup Accelerator	Up to $50,000	Reviewed, limited	Selection-based; tier set by funding raised (up to $5M, $5-10M, over $10M). Credits exclude reserved GPU clusters.
Pinecone for Startups	Varies	Open	Series A or earlier with fewer than 100 employees.
ElevenLabs Startup Grants	33M characters over 12 months (valued by ElevenLabs at over $5,500)	Reviewed, limited	Aimed at early-stage startups; applications are reviewed and specific criteria are in the ElevenLabs help center. VCs can register to fast-track their portfolio.
Weaviate Startup Deal	Varies	Via VC or accelerator	Startups that can name a qualifying program or VC (Y Combinator, Techstars and partner programs given as examples); Weaviate validates each request.

Developer tools

Program	Up to	Access	Who qualifies
GitHub for Startups	$10,000	Via VC or accelerator	Referred by a GitHub for Startups partner (investor, incubator or accelerator), outside equity funding up to Series B, new to GitHub Enterprise, one-time redemption. Israel: Any investor or accelerator can become a referral partner, so Israeli VCs/accelerators can enroll their portfolio; Mercury also lists this offer as a perk.
Vercel for Startups	Up to $30,000	Reviewed, limited	Criteria not published; Vercel lists partner VCs (e.g. Founders Fund, Greylock, Index, Thrive) but does not state VC backing is mandatory. Teams submit interest and are evaluated.
Datadog for Startups	Up to $100,000	Via VC or accelerator	Series A or earlier, new to Datadog, and referred by an official Datadog referral partner; direct applications without a referral are not accepted. Israel: Israeli startups need their VC/accelerator to be on Datadog's referral-partner list.
Retool for Startups	Up to $60,000	Open	Bootstrapped through Series A, under $10M raised, founded within 10 years, new to Retool.
Sentry for Startups	Up to $5,000	Open	Founded within the last 2 years, under $5M in venture funding, new to paying for Sentry.
PostHog for Startups	$50,000	Open	Company under 2 years old, raised less than $5M, PostHog account created on or after Jan 1, 2023, company email domain.
Atlassian for Startups	12 months free Premium, up to 50 users (dollar value not stated)	Needs institutional funding	Not an existing paid Atlassian customer, VC-funded or tied to a partner accelerator/incubator, and under $10M in external funding. Israel: Atlassian may ask for proof of funding such as a Crunchbase or PitchBook profile.
Linear for Startups	Varies	Via VC or accelerator	Affiliated with an official Linear partner (investor, accelerator or community), non-paying user, fewer than 50 employees; no route for non-affiliated startups.
Auth0 for Startups	1 year free B2B Professional plan (dollar value not stated)	Needs institutional funding	Venture-backed with under $5M raised, under $1M ARR, incorporated less than 2 years ago, not a current or previous paying customer or program member.

Data and analytics

Program	Up to	Access	Who qualifies
MongoDB for Startups	Varies	Open; top tier via VC	Under 7 years old, Series A or earlier, a single software product, active website and LinkedIn, not previously accepted. Higher tiers go to VC-backed and fast-scaling startups.
Databricks for Startups	Up to $200,000	Reviewed, limited	Early-stage companies; detailed criteria not published and the amount depends on qualification. Startups backed by partner VCs (e.g. a16z, Battery, General Catalyst, Insight, Menlo, NEA) get an extra route in.
Neo4j Startup Program	Up to $16,000	Open	Series B or earlier, one product sold to many customers (no dev shops or agencies), live website and company LinkedIn; existing Aura users may apply.
Snowflake for Startups	Varies	Reviewed, limited	Not formally published; aimed at startups where data and AI are core to the product. VC-community benefits flow through partner VC firms.
Mixpanel for Startups	1 year free Startup Plan (dollar value not stated)	Open	Incorporated under 5 years ago, raised no more than $8M, never on a paid Mixpanel plan, must start sending data within 90 days.
Amplitude Startups Plan (Scholarship)	1 year free Growth plan (dollar value not stated)	Open	Less than $10M in funding and fewer than 20 employees; Amplitude describes the plan as temporary.

Sales, support and workspace

Program	Up to	Access	Who qualifies
HubSpot for Startups	Up to 90% off in year one	Needs institutional funding	Raised pre-seed, seed or Series A (not Series B+) and either affiliated with an approved HubSpot for Startups partner or with verifiable venture funding; annual commitment required.
Intercom Early Stage Program	93% off in year one	Open	Up to $10M in funding, fewer than 15 employees, not a current Intercom customer.
Zendesk for Startups	Up to 2 years free	Open; top tier via VC	Brand-new Zendesk customer, under 250 employees (50+ need a partner referral), externally funded up to Series B, under 10 years old.
Notion for Startups	Up to 6 months free Business plan	Open; top tier via VC	New non-paying customer with a company website and email, fewer than 100 employees for the partner offer, building a scalable tech product; one offer per company.

Banking and incorporation perks (US entity)

Program	Up to	Access	Who qualifies
Stripe Atlas Perks	Varies	Open	Only for companies incorporated through Stripe Atlas (a US Delaware entity) after Atlas approval; individual partners set their own extra conditions. Israel: Relevant for Israeli founders who set up a Delaware parent via Atlas.
Mercury Perks	Varies	Open	Requires signing up with Mercury (a US business banking account), which in practice means a US entity. Israel: Useful for Israeli startups with a US (e.g. Delaware) entity banking with Mercury.
Brex Rewards and Partner Perks	Over $350,000 in partner perks (as stated by Brex, combined)	Open	Brex customers; eligibility for specific partner perks is not detailed on the page. Israel: Requires a Brex account, which generally means a US entity.

Accelerators with credits

Program	Up to	Access	Who qualifies
Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe & Israel (AI for Energy)	Varies	Reviewed, limited	Clean-energy startups using AI and Cloud, pre-seed to Series A, funded and revenue-generating, 5+ people, HQ in Europe or Israel, 3 C-level execs available. Israel: One of the few Google programs that explicitly lists Israel as an eligible HQ; the 2026 cycle closed applications on June 12, so watch for the next cycle.

Three things Israeli founders should know

Angel money and IIA grants do not unlock Google's large tiers.Google for Startups Cloud Scale and AI tiers require institutional or VC funding, including a SAFE from a fund. A company funded only by angels or by Israel Innovation Authority grants starts on the smaller Start tier.
Your investor is often the key.AWS Activate Portfolio needs an Org ID from an Activate Provider, and GitHub, Datadog, Linear, OpenAI and Anthropic's VC partner credits work only through partner organizations. Ask each investor which programs they belong to.
Some perks follow a US entity.Stripe Atlas, Mercury and Brex perks generally require a US company. If you are considering a Delaware parent, read our guide to the Delaware flip.

For the order to claim them in and how to avoid wasting them, read how to get startup credits as an Israeli startup. For non-dilutive money from the state, see our guide to Innovation Authority grants.

Startup credits for Israeli founders: the 2026 directory