Modal for Startups 🎁 Program

What you get

Modal offers a one-time grant of free compute credits (the page says "thousands of free GPU credits"), direct access to Modal's engineering team for technical support, go-to-market amplification on launches and raises, and a community of founders with online and in-person events. Credits can be used on all compute resources, including in-demand GPU types.

Who qualifies

You must be new to Modal. Two tiers are listed:

• Seed to Series A: you raised any amount from a VC in Modal's partner network, or more than $1m from any fund.
• Scaling and Series B+: custom terms if you raised more than $30m or are post-Series B, and your VC is in the partner network.

Modal lists 40+ partner firms and accelerators, including a16z, Accel, Sequoia, YC, Lightspeed, Khosla, NEA, South Park Commons and Thrive Capital.

Good to know

• The page does not publish a dollar amount; it depends on traction, funding and whether you come from a partner fund.
• Credits last one year and cannot be reinstated if they expire.
• Credits cannot pay for team or enterprise subscription fees.
• You must add a payment method so your apps keep running when the credits run out.
• You cannot reapply once you have received credits in a tier. If you hear nothing within two weeks, email [email protected].

Verdict

A good fit for funded teams running inference, fine-tuning or batch jobs on serverless GPUs. Bootstrapped teams without a $1m+ raise or partner VC do not qualify.

1. Check you are new to Modal and meet a tier's funding rules.
2. Create a Modal workspace for your company and add a payment method.
3. Click Apply Now on https://modal.com/startups and submit the form.
4. Track credit status and expiry on your Modal billing page.
5. Email [email protected] if you have not heard back within two weeks.