Up to $500 in compute credits for qualifying startups

For early-stage, AI-native companies building something real

We're early stage too. We want to work closely with startups that are building AI-native products and need isolated compute, browser automation, or GPU workloads to do it. If that's you, apply below.

What you get

$500 Compute credits applied to your account on acceptance

6 mo Pro tier feature access — 25 concurrent sandboxes, 5 GPUs, higher spend cap

Direct Slack access to the team — not a ticket queue, not a bot

How credits work: Credits are denominated in USD and applied against compute usage per-minute billing. ab0t.micro is $0.02/hr, ab0t.gpu is $1.06/hr. $500 goes a long way for development workloads. Credits expire 12 months after issuance.

Eligibility

Age: Company incorporated within the last 2 years
Funding: Less than $5M raised (pre-seed, seed, or bootstrapped)
Product: Building an AI-native product — AI is core to what the product does, not a feature added on top
Use of platform: Your use case meaningfully involves sandboxes, browsers, desktops, or GPU compute
Geography: Any country — we serve developers worldwide

We review applications manually. There's no quota — we accept applications that are a good fit, not a fixed number per batch.

Apply

Startup program application

Takes about 5 minutes. We review every application and reply within a week.

Online application form coming soon. For now, email startups@ab0t.com with the details below.

Your name

Company name

Website

What are you building?

Funding stage

How will you use Sandbox Platform?

Apply via email

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we renew after the 6 months?

Renewal isn't guaranteed, but if you've been an active user and are still early-stage, reach out when you're approaching the end of the program period and we'll discuss options. We're not trying to extract value from startups the moment they're slightly less early.

What counts as an "AI-native" product?

We interpret this practically: the core user value of your product depends on AI — not just an AI-generated summary or a chatbot bolted on. Examples: an AI coding agent, a browser-based research tool powered by LLMs, an autonomous QA platform, a multi-agent workflow product. If you're unsure, describe what you're building and we'll let you know if it fits.

Does the $500 have to be used all at once?

No. Credits are applied to your account and draw down as you use compute, billed per minute. You can use them gradually over the 12-month credit validity window.

What happens after the $500 runs out?

You can upgrade to a paid plan — Starter ($100/mo cap) or Pro ($1,000/mo cap) — or continue on the Free tier ($10 credit, 1 concurrent sandbox). The Pro tier access from the program lapses when credits are exhausted or at the 6-month mark, whichever comes first, unless renewed.

Can we apply if we're outside New Zealand?

Yes, absolutely. ab0t is based in New Zealand but the program is open to startups worldwide. All compute runs on AWS us-west-2 regardless of where you're located.