Google has offered an olive branch to eligible startups, promising them $100,000 (£61,500) in Cloud Platform credits to get their companies off the ground.
The initiative, with the does-what-it-says-on-the-tin name of ‘Google Cloud Platform for Startups’, was announced at the Google for Entrepreneurs Global Partner Summit and gives companies access to the search giant’s support team 24/7, as well as access to the firm’s technical solutions team.
“This offer supports our core Google Cloud Platform philosophy,” wrote developer relations director Julie Pearl in a blog post. “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.”
Not just anyone can chance their arm for Google’s bucks, however: eligible companies have to be part of an approved Accelerator, Incubator or VC fund, have less than $5m in funding, have less than $500,000 in annual revenue, and not have had any previous Cloud Platform credits.
Google isn’t alone in providing support to startups, however. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a similar initiative in place called Portfolio Package, while Rackspace pledged £250,000 for the same cause under the Rackspace Startups Programme. It’s with Amazon in mind that Google appears to have taken this philanthropic leap.
Google recently hired former Red Hat CTO Brian Stevens to run its cloud platforms division
The search giant recently hired former Red Hat CTO Brian Stevens to run its cloud platforms division. Stevens unexpectedly quit Red Hat at the end of last month, leading commentators to muse about his influence running Google’s cloudy operations going forward.
Reaction to the news was generally positive. Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box, seemingly drew inspiration from the Monty Python ‘Four Yorkshiremen’ sketch for his reply:
Google offering startups $100K in cloud credits. When we started out we had to build our servers, and walk to the office up hill both ways.
— Aaron Levie (@levie) September 12, 2014
“It has been amazing to watch Snapchat send over 700 million photos and videos a day, and Khan Academy teach millions of students,” Pearl added. “We look forward to helping the next generation of startups launch great products.”
You can find out more about the Google Cloud Platform for Startups here.
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