DigitalOcean Hatch Startup Program - $100,000
Source: https://www.digitalocean.com/startups
Description
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+ 1 The DigitalOcean Hatch program (now branded as "DigitalOcean Startups") gives qualified early-stage startups up to $100,000 in compute credits over 12 months, plus 3 months of free GPU usage, 15 months of Standard-tier support, marketplace exposure to 600K+ customers, and a welcome kit packed with partner perks from Stripe, Cloudflare, Segment, Notion, and more. AI-native startups are prioritized. The credit amount you receive depends on your partner affiliation — startups referred by recognized accelerators, incubators, or VCs typically get the highest tier. Direct applicants can still apply but may receive less.
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+ 7 1. Go to digitalocean.com and create a new team account using your company domain email (e.g. you@yourcompany.com). Free email providers like Gmail, Protonmail, or Hotmail are not accepted
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+ 8 2. Add a valid credit card to the account during signup
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+ 9 3. Go to do.co/AIStartups — this opens the Hatch application form (hosted on Typeform)
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+ 10 4. Fill out the application: company name, website, description of what you are building, funding stage, team size, and select your affiliated partner organization (accelerator, incubator, or VC). If you are bootstrapped or unaffiliated, select "Other"
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+ 11 5. Submit the application and wait for a response from the Hatch team
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+ 12 6. If accepted, you receive a welcome email with your credit allocation and access to the Welcome Kit with partner perks
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+ 13
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+ 14 Important:
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+ 15 • You must be a new DigitalOcean customer — no prior accounts or promotional credits
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+ 16 • Your company must have raised a Series A or less ($10M cap)
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+ 17 • Service-based businesses (consulting, agencies, web/app dev shops) are not eligible
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+ 18 • Admission is at DigitalOcean's discretion and is not guaranteed
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+ 19 • If you have questions, email hatch@digitalocean.com
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+ 20 • DigitalOcean may request documentation proving eligibility at any time
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+ 26 Hatch credits are distributed as a fixed monthly allocation over 12 months — they do not roll over from month to month.
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+ 27
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+ 28 DetailValue
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+ 29 Maximum total credits$100,000
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+ 30 Duration12 months (use-it-or-lose-it)
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+ 31 Monthly distributionFixed monthly cap (varies by tier)
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+ 32 OverageCharged to your credit card
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+ 33 Monthly hard cap (post-Oct 2020)$8,400 above your credit amount triggers a Terms breach
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+ 34 GPU coverageCredits do NOT cover GPU Droplets
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+ 35 Crypto miningProhibited
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+ 36 TransferableNo — credits cannot be transferred, assigned, or used for resale
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+ 37
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+ 38 If you exceed your monthly credit amount, you are billed for the difference. If you exceed $8,400 above your credit amount in a single month, DigitalOcean may terminate your participation.
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+ 44 Hatch participants get two GPU-specific benefits:
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+ 45
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+ 46 BenefitDetails
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+ 47 Free GPU usageUp to 3 months at zero cost for qualified startups
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+ 48 Discounted H100 pricing~$1.90/GPU/hour for 12 months (vs. $2.99/hour on-demand standard pricing)
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+ 49
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+ 50 Key caveat: Your regular Hatch compute credits do not cover GPU Droplet usage. After the 3-month free period, GPU costs are billed separately to your credit card at the discounted rate. Plan your GPU budget accordingly.
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+ 51
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+ 52 DigitalOcean GPU Droplets use NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs, suitable for model training, fine-tuning, and inference workloads.
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+ 58 Hatch credits can be applied to most DigitalOcean infrastructure services:
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+ 59
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+ 60 ServiceDescription
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+ 61 DropletsCPU-based virtual machines (from $4/mo)
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+ 62 Kubernetes (DOKS)Managed Kubernetes clusters (control plane is free)
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+ 63 App PlatformPaaS for deploying from Git repos (from $5/mo)
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+ 64 Managed DatabasesPostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Kafka, Redis/Caching
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+ 65 SpacesS3-compatible object storage
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+ 66 VolumesBlock storage
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+ 67 Load BalancersTraffic distribution
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+ 68 DigitalOcean GradientAI/ML platform for training, inference, and agent building
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+ 69 NetworkingVPC, firewalls, DNS
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+ 70
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+ 71 Not covered by credits:
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+ 72 • GPU Droplets / H100 products (separate billing)
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+ 73 • Cryptocurrency mining workloads
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+ 74 • Programs consuming excessive network capacity, CPU cycles, or disk I/O
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+ 80 BenefitDetails
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+ 81 Standard-tier support15 months free (extends 3 months beyond credit period)
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+ 82 Expert office hoursMonthly webinars and live Q&A sessions
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+ 83 One-on-one meetingsAccess to Product Managers, Solutions Engineers, and Developer Advocates
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+ 84 Marketplace exposureListing opportunity in DigitalOcean Marketplace (600K+ customers)
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+ 85 Co-marketingPartner opportunities at DigitalOcean events worldwide
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+ 91 Accepted startups receive the Hatch Welcome Kit with credits and discounts from partner companies:
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+ 93 PartnerPerk
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+ 94 Stripe20% off Stripe Atlas (incorporation service)
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+ 95 Cloudflare1 year of Cloudflare Enterprise for free
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+ 96 Segment$50,000 in Segment credits for 1 year
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+ 97 HubSpotUp to 90% off in your first year
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+ 98 Retool12 months free
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+ 99 Airtable$2,000 in credits
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+ 100 Cloud 66$500 in credits
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+ 101 QuickNodeUp to $5,000 in credits
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+ 102 Bolster$1,000 in credits
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+ 103 NotionDiscounted access
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+ 104 GitHubGitHub Enterprise seats (details in Welcome Kit)
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+ 105
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+ 106 Perks are claimed through the Welcome Kit portal after acceptance. Some perks have their own eligibility requirements and expiration windows.
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+ 111
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+ 112 The amount of credits you receive depends heavily on how you enter the program:
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+ 113
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+ 114 • Accelerator/incubator/VC referral (Y Combinator, Techstars, 100X.VC, Startup India, iCreate, etc.) — highest credit tiers, up to $100,000
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+ 115 • Direct application ("Other") — still accepted, but typically lower credit allocation
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+ 116 • Bootstrapped startups — eligible, but higher tiers require ecosystem affiliation
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+ 117
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+ 118 If your accelerator or investor is not listed in the application form, select "Other" and describe the relationship. You can also ask your accelerator if they have a DigitalOcean partnership — many do but startups miss it.
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+ 124 The Hatch program has been running since 2016 and has supported thousands of startups, including:
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+ 125 • Hugging Face — AI model hub
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+ 126 • Aiven — managed open-source data infrastructure
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+ 127 • OneText — SMS commerce platform
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+ 128 • Vuukle — audience engagement platform
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+ 129 • Ex-human — empathetic AI agents
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+ 134
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+ 135 • Start using credits early — the 12-month clock starts at acceptance, not at first usage. Unused monthly credits are forfeited each month
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+ 136 • No extensions — DigitalOcean does not grant credit extensions under any circumstances
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+ 137 • One enrollment per company — you cannot re-enroll or enroll the same business twice
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+ 138 • GPU free period is separate — the 3 months of free GPU usage runs independently from your compute credits. After 3 months, GPU usage is billed at the discounted rate (~$1.90/hr)
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+ 139 • Set billing alerts — configure alerts in your DigitalOcean dashboard to avoid surprise overages
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+ 140 • Marketplace listing — take advantage of the marketplace exposure; it is a unique benefit that most cloud startup programs do not offer
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+ 141 • Claim all Welcome Kit perks — many startups forget to redeem partner perks like the $50K Segment credit or free Cloudflare Enterprise year. Check the Welcome Kit immediately after acceptance
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+ 144
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+ 145 Sources:
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+ 146 • DigitalOcean Startups (Hatch) Program
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+ 147 • DigitalOcean Hatch Application (do.co/AIStartups)
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+ 148 • DigitalOcean Announces New Benefits for Hatch Startup Program (Jan 2025)
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+ 149 • DigitalOcean Hatch Terms of Service
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+ 150 • DigitalOcean Startups Welcome Kit
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+ 151 • DigitalOcean GPU Droplets Pricing
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+ 152 • DigitalOcean Products Overview
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+ 153 • Hatch Program on CloudCredits.io
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+ 154 • Cloudflare Hatch Terms
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