Confluent for Startups

Up to a year of managed Kafka and Flink free is a serious amount of infrastructure if you're doing anything event-driven or real-time. Confluent's startup program grants product credits that can cover roughly the first year of Confluent Cloud, plus two expert sessions and office hours; an AI Accelerator track runs in 10-week batches.

What you get

• Confluent Cloud product credits (reported up to ~$20K; more via VC/accelerator partners)
• Two expert architecture sessions + office hours
• Optional AI Accelerator track (10-week batches)

Eligibility + the catch

• Early-stage (around Series B or earlier)
• Must be NEW to Confluent — past credit recipients and existing customers are excluded
• Apply before you launch paid workloads; credits are not retroactive

How to apply

Apply via the program page (or startups@confluent.io). Going through a VC or accelerator partner materially increases the credit amount — ask your investors if they're on the partner list first.