AWS Activate
Amazon's flagship program. Up to $5,000 self-serve, up to $200,000 through a VC or accelerator, and more for AI startups by invitation.
AWS Activate offers Up to $200,000 ($200,000+ for AI) to bootstrapped, pre-seed, seed startups, no VC referral required. Review takes 2–10 business days.
About
AWS Activate has deployed billions in credits to hundreds of thousands of startups since 2013. It splits into three paths. The Founders tier is self-serve and open to bootstrapped companies, worth up to $5,000. The Portfolio tier reaches up to $200,000 and requires affiliation with an approved AWS Activate Provider, meaning a VC, accelerator, or incubator. A separate AI tier goes beyond $200,000 for frontier AI companies and is by invitation.
Credits cover more than 200 AWS services including EC2, Lambda, S3, RDS, Bedrock, and SageMaker.
One eligibility change worth noting: the old requirement that your most recent round closed within 12 months is gone. The current rule is that you are new to Activate credits, or requesting more than you previously received, which means a second application is possible in a way it was not before.
Tiers
- Self-funded or bootstrapped
- Less than 10 years old
- Functioning website
- Active AWS account
- New to Activate credits
- Pre-Series B
- Less than 10 years old
- Affiliated with an AWS Activate Provider (VC, accelerator, incubator)
- New to Activate credits, or requesting more than you previously received
- Frontier AI startups building foundation models (not wrappers)
- Heavy GPU need (P5/G5 clusters)
- Typically requires top-tier VC nomination
Eligibility
- Founders tier: self-serve, no referral, new to Activate credits
- Portfolio tier: affiliated with an approved VC, accelerator, or incubator
- New to Activate credits, or requesting more than you previously received
- Company must not be a consultancy or agency applying for a client
- Series B+ funding
- Company older than 10 years
- Previously received equal or greater Activate credits
- Consultancies, dev shops, agencies
- Crypto-mining / bitcoin operations
How to apply
- 1Create AWS Builder IDCreate a Builder ID or link an existing AWS account.
- 2
- 3Complete Activate member profileFill out company, product and team info.
- 4Choose a packageFounders (self-serve) or Portfolio (provider-referred).
- 5Enter Organization ID (Portfolio only)Get the confidential Org ID from your VC/accelerator, it is not a public coupon.
- 6SubmitInclude company info, product details and funding status.
- 7Wait for decisionFounders: 2–7 days. Portfolio: 5–10 days.
What else you get
- Access to Activate Exclusive Offers (80+ partner perks worth up to $800K)
- Developer Support credits
- AWS training and certification resources
- Bedrock access to Claude, Mistral, Llama and other models
What credits cover (and don't)
- EC2, Lambda, S3, RDS, DynamoDB
- Amazon Bedrock (Claude, Mistral, Llama)
- SageMaker
- Eligible AWS Support Plans
- 200+ AWS services
- Most AWS Marketplace purchases
- Some support charges
Tactical tips
- Tip 1.Use a `@yourcompany.com` email, Gmail/Outlook is a huge rejection driver.
- Tip 2.Make sure your website is real: thin sites, broken pages, or generic templates get rejected.
- Tip 3.Apply at the right time, don't burn credits early; time it for scale-up.
- Tip 4.Stack with NVIDIA Inception first if you're AI-focused to unlock larger tiers.
- Tip 5.You can re-apply for a higher Portfolio offer after burning through a lower tier.
- Tip 6.AWS verifies funding through Pitchbook/Crunchbase; false info = ban.
Common rejection reasons
- Personal Gmail/Outlook email on application
- Website does not clearly describe what the product does
- Missing or invalid Organization ID on Portfolio tier
- Already received credits via Mercury/Brex that hit the cap
Frequently asked about AWS Activate
Is AWS Activate free to apply?
Yes. Applying to AWS Activate does not cost anything and does not require giving up equity. Some programs require a payment method on file that activates only after credits are consumed or expire, check the program detail page for specifics.
How long does AWS Activate take to review applications?
Processing times are shown on the program detail page. Most programs reply within 1–3 weeks. Self-serve tiers (like AWS Activate Founders) can approve in 2–7 days; partner-referred tiers (like AWS Activate Portfolio) usually take 5–10 days.
Can I combine AWS Activate with other startup programs?
Most programs stack. The "Stacks well with" section on each detail page lists commonly combined programs. A few important exceptions: if you already claimed AWS credits via Brex or Mercury, your direct AWS Activate amount may be reduced.
What is the most common reason applications to Amazon Web Services get rejected?
The top rejection reasons are (1) using a personal Gmail/Outlook address instead of a company domain, (2) having a thin or placeholder website, and (3) mismatched information between the application and Crunchbase/Pitchbook. The tips section on the program page details program-specific factors.
Related programs
Google for Startups Cloud Program
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Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub
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Vercel for Startups
Up to $30K Vercel credits (standard); $216K + $8M AI partner credits via AI Accelerator cohort.