Anthropic: One Year of Claude Team and $1,000 API for Startups

Anthropic strengthens Claude Startups by offering up to one year of Claude Team and a $1,000 API credit to eligible startups. This initiative, open to French startups, comes with a catalog of partner offers and product support, along with eligibility, availability, and expiration constraints to be aware of.

Eligibility, Geographic Exclusions, and Usage Limits

France is not on the list of countries excluded from the program. However, the official conditions exclude companies established or active in territories such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Admission depends on Anthropic's assessment, which considers traction, funding, and usage of Claude. The free year of Claude Team is only available to organizations new to this plan and does not apply to companies that are already subscribed. API credits expire six months after allocation and can only be used through the Anthropic API in the Claude Console, excluding AWS Bedrock and Google Cloud Vertex AI. The Startup Stack offers are from third-party publishers subject to their own conditions, with no guarantee from Anthropic regarding their availability or content. Anthropic also indicates that a startup may not necessarily be able to accumulate or obtain all partner offers.

What Selected Startups Receive: Team, API, Partners, and Support

Admitted startups receive up to five Premium seats of Claude Team for one year, with access to the Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku models. The use of Fable is included within a limit of 50% of the weekly quota. Upon acceptance, a one-time credit of $1,000 is added to the Claude API, along with increased spending limits. On the ecosystem side, the Claude Startup Stack includes discounts and credits with publishers like ElevenLabs, Gamma, Granola, and Hex. Technical support is offered through virtual office hours of 45 minutes every two weeks with the Applied AI team, as well as assistance in designing and submitting a listing on Claude Marketplace. Startups affiliated with a partner fund of Anthropic can also request up to $100,000 in additional API credits from their investor.

Who Can Apply and What Time Criteria

The program is aimed at startups created within the last five years or that have received funding in the past two years, with either of these criteria being sufficient. Self-funded companies can apply, as can those in pre-seed stages or supported by investors. Once selected, these companies gain access to the benefits provided by the program.

Application via the Console: Steps and Processing Times

Applications are made from the program's dedicated page. The process requires creating an account on the Claude Console with a professional email linked to the company's domain, followed by filling out a form that briefly describes the product. The decision is communicated via email. According to Anthropic, most applications are reviewed within a few minutes, while others may require manual checks lasting two to three business days. After validation, the startup begins its year of Claude Team and requests its API credits from the Console, where partner offers are also activated using a code.

Announced Amounts, Timeline, and Stated Objective

Anthropic estimates the maximum value of the products and Claude credits offered at $7,000, calculated based on five Premium seats at $100 monthly on an annual payment plan, totaling $6,000, plus an additional $1,000 in API credit. The Claude Startup Stack reaches $45,000 when all partner offers are added to the catalog prices as of September 2026. Claude Startups was launched for the first time in May 2025 and then expanded on October 6 during SF Tech Week. The company claims it wants to get closer to founders and developers and believes that the benefits of AI will reach the greatest number through companies building on the models, rather than through the models alone.