Two weeks ago, we showcased some of the ways that large global companies are creating value with Google Cloud AI – companies like Snap, Volkswagen, and Warner Brothers Discovery. Today, we’re hosting our annual Startup Summit and highlighting innovative and fast-growing companies who are working with Google Cloud and are already having an impact on the ways we live and work, create and connect. From early-stage businesses to high-growth unicorns, the AI era is being built with Google Cloud. 

At the Google Cloud Startup Summit, attendees will be hearing from Google Cloud leaders including CEO Thomas Kurian, Chief Marketing Officer Alison Wagonfeld, General Manager for Startups and AI James Lee, Managing Director for North America Darren Mowry, and Global SMB & Startups Marketing Director Helene Ambiana about Google Cloud’s AI platform; Lightspeed and CapitalG on investment trends and opportunities; accelerators and incubators like A12 and Entrepreneurs Roundtable on scaling; and Google Cloud customers like Baseten, Higgsfield AI, LiveX AI, Reve AI, and Vellum on AI and cloud best practices.

We’re also announcing several exciting new startups who have chosen Google Cloud as their innovation partner and who have begun building applications and models with our platform:

• Infinite Reality, a company that helps online retailers and other industries build immersive 3D worlds for consumers, recently began using Gemini models on Google Cloud to help Infinite Reality customers quickly design and build AI-generated experiences.
• World Labs is focused on creating spatially intelligent AI with models that can perceive, generate, and interact with the 3D world, using Google Cloud as its primary cloud provider. The research team at World Labs is training its models using NVIDIA GPUs on Google Cloud and is utilizing our High Performance Computing toolkit to manage and scale its AI/ML workloads.
• Viral Nation, the social marketing agency, is now using Gemini 1.5 on Vertex AI for brand safety and social media content analysis that helps them connect the right influencers to brands.

By running and scaling their businesses on Google Cloud, these startups and many others have access to our AI optimized infrastructure, a broad and highly capable selection of models, and a choice of TPUs and GPUs for model training and inferencing. 

In fact, we recently released two updated production-ready Gemini models, Gemini-1.5 Pro-002 and Gemini 1.5 Flash-002, both of which deliver several key benefits for customers, including: 2x higher rate limits on 1.5 Flash and roughly 3x higher on 1.5 Pro; 2x faster output and 3x lower latency across both models; and more than a 50% price reduction on 1.5 Pro. Startup developers can now access these latest models for free via Google AI Studio and the Gemini API, while larger customers can access these models on Vertex AI.

In addition, our Google for Startups Cloud Program continues to be an important and growing pathway for early-stage startups to begin building on our platform, particularly when it comes to AI. In fact, the number of startups accessing our AI products and resources through the Google for Startups Cloud Program has more than tripled since we launched our AI Tier in the program in April 2023.

Also today, we’re announcing several updates that will make it even more seamless for startups to get started building with Google Cloud AI, including an upcoming “Startup School,” a new ISV Startup Springboard program, and expanded partnerships with global startup accelerators.

Building gen AI skills with Startup School

Later this month we’ll kick off the next edition of Startup School, a program built specifically to help startup teams grow their skills with Google Cloud gen AI. The latest iteration of Startup School includes time-zone friendly sessions for startups across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions; sessions will cover topics including developing gen AI applications with Vertex AI and Gemini, using BigQuery for data-driven growth, and working with Google Cloud’s extensive ecosystem of partners. Interested startups can learn more and register here.

Helping AI startups go to market with ‘ISV Startup Springboard’

Going from an idea to a product is often the first step for startups, but finding product-market fit is equally important. In addition to leading technology, credits, technical training and support available through our Google for Startups Cloud Program, we’re expanding the ways we help AI startups bring their products to market by making our ISV Startup Springboard program globally available, beginning today.

The ISV Startup Springboard program is a 12-week, hands-on program that allows qualified AI startups to access multiple go to market benefits and initiatives through our partner program. This includes accelerated onboarding to Google Cloud Marketplace and entry into our extensive co-selling and co-marketing programs.

More than 100 startups who run on Google Cloud participated in Springboard during an early access period, including companies like Baseten, Dataloop, Gretel, HumanFirst, and Roboflow. We’re also collaborating with a network of VC partners to extend Springboard to their portfolio companies, including Insight Partners and Mayfield.

"Springboard as a program has been pivotal in enabling our portfolio of Mayfield early stage companies to work closely with Google in scaling their reach via Google Cloud Marketplace, get access to product and industry experts and build out go-to-market motions." Gamiel Gran, Chief Commercial Officer, Mayfield 

You can read more about the ISV Startup Springboard program here, and interested startups can register their interest to join the next cohort here.

Expanding our work with leading startup accelerators and funders

Many startups begin working with Google Cloud through our partnerships with important programs like Y Combinator. These partnerships are important because they give qualified startups easy access to Google Cloud’s leading infrastructure, data tooling, and AI capabilities that can help them bring products to market more quickly.

Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with 500 Global that will help even more startups get streamlined access to our leading AI platform. Through this partnership, 500 Global portfolio companies can receive a package of cloud credits and product benefits, as well as in-person support from Google Cloud Startup Success Managers, customer engineers, and our own AI teams. They’ll also join an early access program for new Gemini capabilities, specifically for AI startups.

To join the growing community of innovators building with Google Cloud AI, apply now for the Google for Startups Cloud Program and unlock the resources you need to accelerate your journey.