Akamai Cloud Rise (formerly Linode) 🎁 Program

What you get

Akamai Cloud Rise is a three-year program for startups building on Akamai Cloud (the platform formerly called Linode):

• Year one: cloud credits from $500 up to $120,000, depending on your needs.
• Years two and three: discounted cloud services. The page does not give the discount percentages.

Credits do not roll over from month to month or into later years, and usage beyond the monthly credit is billed.

Separately, Akamai runs a partner start-up program for VCs, accelerators and incubators: their portfolio companies can get up to $3,000 a month for a year as qualified new customers, plus workshops.

Who qualifies

• An early-stage, for-profit company fewer than seven years old.
• At least one of: paid employees beyond the founders, active users who are not friends, family or investors, initial revenue, or VC funding.
• A plan to scale on Akamai Cloud with Akamai as one of your main infrastructure providers.
• Existing Akamai Cloud customers are not eligible. Managed hosting providers, MSPs, system integrators and other resellers are excluded.

Good to know

• You need a new Akamai Cloud account with a corporate email on your domain, a valid card, a working website and a company entity name.
• Akamai reviews applications in about one to two weeks; qualified applicants get a discovery call before acceptance.
• No partner code is needed for Rise.

Verdict

A sensible option if you want straightforward VMs, Kubernetes and object storage with a multi-year price runway. You need some traction (staff, users, revenue or funding) to qualify, and the year two and three discounts are not spelled out publicly.

1. Create a new Akamai Cloud account with a corporate email, a valid card and your company name.
2. Submit the Rise intake form about your startup and cloud needs.
3. Wait for review (usually one to two weeks) and take the discovery call if invited.
4. Once accepted, credits are added and the program coordinator sets next steps.