The Web3 Startup Programme is part of a larger effort by the Alphabet subsidiary to provide technological tools and cloud services to businesses seeking to expand. Thus, the program is open to Series A-stage businesses developing software stacks and protocols for blockchains.
“Our goal is to enable Web3 builders with reliable, scalable, and sustainable infrastructure on which to build their applications. We want to make Google Cloud the first choice for every Web3 startup and developer to help launch and scale their business,” shares James Tromans, Head of Web3 Engineering at Google Cloud.
The program’s main features will include credits for entrepreneurs (up to $2,000 in Google Cloud credits, good for two years), as well as other perks like access to significant blockchain events like Paris Blockchain Week, Consensus, and TOKEN2049 Singapore. About the later event, Google has also declared its involvement.
There are up to $200,000 in cloud credits (for both Google Cloud and Firebase) and an extra $12,000 in Google Cloud Enhanced Support credits available for firms who have already received seed investment for over two years. With a year’s worth of Google Workspace Business Plus access, startups will also be able to function more efficiently. Participating partners in the program Aptos, Celo, Flow, HBAR Foundation, Near, and Solana Foundation will each provide businesses with $1 million in the form of fiat money or cryptocurrency.
For seeded businesses, Polygon Ventures, the venture capital division of Polygon, will contribute $3 million in investment, while Base, the infrastructure division of Coinbase, will give qualified startups priority evaluations. On the other side, Coinbase Ventures will provide help for networking with pertinent venture capital companies and link participating entrepreneurs to its listing teams. Additionally, Alchemy will provide $10,000 in credits, VIP assistance, and Thirdweb implementation of gasless contracts.
Those Web3 startups admitted into the program will be subject to several conditions and limitations. A “Start Tier” is accessible for pre-seed businesses that are under five years old, while a “Scale Tier” serves businesses that are under 10 years old and have funding validated through Series A. Participants will have considerably reduced costs for access to partner offers, Web3 capabilities, and Google Cloud services.
Alex Svanevik, CEO of Nansen, expressed confidence over the likelihood that Google Cloud will assist in growing Web3, saying that: “We [Nansen] can provide real-time intelligence to level the crypto playing field.”
Google Cloud hopes to overtake Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft’s Azure, and Chainstack as the top Web3 infrastructure provider while joining a cutthroat field of rivals. For several years, Google Cloud has been actively involved in Web3 product development. A specific Web3 team of product managers and software developers was put together in 2022 to bring specialized solutions to market for the Web3 community. It had previously introduced the Blockchain Node Engine, a fully managed node-hosting service.
