Google is offering startups $100,000 in credits to lure them to its cloud platform.
The tech giant is also providing free 24/7 support and one to one technical architecture to help entrepreneurs launch and scale their ideas quickly.
The credits, available for one year after being granted, are being distributed to startups via 50 incubators, accelerators and investors worldwide – Seedcamp and Techstars are two London-based incubators that have signed up to the scheme – with more partners to come.
Google’s developer relations director, Julie Pearl, wrote in a blog post about the news: "This offer supports our core Google Cloud Platform philosophy: we want developers to focus on code; not worry about managing infrastructure.
"Starting today, startups can take advantage of this offer and begin using the same infrastructure platform we use at Google. For example, [meditation app] Headspace is helping millions of people keep their minds healthier and happier using Google Cloud Platform for Startups."
To get the cash, startups must meet Google’s eligibility requirements demanding they are on an "approved" accelerator or incubator scheme, have not received previous cloud platform credits, have less than $5m in funding and less than $500,000 in yearly revenue.
With no limits to what the credits can be spent on, startups could invest them in any Google cloud service, from big data to compute or storage.
Google looks like it could take startup business away from Microsoft and Amazon Web Services with this move, and could trigger a fresh burst of attractive offers for startups in this space.
This comes after AWS defended its own two-tier startup package offering, Activate, last October, telling CBR the more premium package was too costly for indie entrepreneurs not affiliated with an incubator or accelerator.
