Mindship got an Anthropic grant: how to get into Claude Startups (and not get rejected)

Mindship has joined Anthropic’s Claude Startups program. We got a year of Claude Team for five seats and US$1,000 in API credits — up to US$7,000 in Claude products and credits in total. Here’s how to apply and which mistakes to avoid.

On October 6, 2026, Anthropic announced an expansion of the Claude Startups program. On top of that, members get access to partner services worth up to US$45,000. No outside funding is required: bootstrapped startups can apply as well.

Mindship is among the Ukrainian teams that have already joined the program. In our experience, most rejections are not about the product but about how the application is written.

What Claude Startups members get

According to Anthropic’s website, members get seven kinds of support.

What	Terms
Claude Team	1 year free, up to 5 Premium seats (for companies that haven’t used Team before)
Claude API credits	US$1,000 one-time (valid for 6 months from the date they’re granted)
Higher API limits	Turned on automatically together with the credits
Claude Startup Stack	Partner discounts and credits worth up to US$45,000: ElevenLabs, Gamma, Firecrawl, ClickHouse, Granola, Hex, and more
Office hours	Sessions with Anthropic’s Applied AI team
Claude Marketplace	Help building and submitting your own connector or plugin
Community	Founder House, hackathons, and startup meetups

Who can apply

A startup founded within the last five years can apply, as can a startup that raised funding in the last two years. The program is open both to pre-seed teams with no outside funding and to those already backed by venture capital.

To apply, you need:

• a Claude Console account;
• a work email on your company website’s domain;
• a short description of what you’re building, why it matters, and how you use Claude (up to 500 characters);
• a description of the support from the Anthropic team that would be valuable to you (also up to 500 characters).

Most applications are reviewed automatically, and the decision comes within minutes. Others go through a manual review, and then the answer takes 2–3 business days.

How to get into Anthropic’s Claude Startups: three steps and three mistakes

Here’s what I recommend checking and which common mistakes to avoid.

Step 1. Check that you’re eligible. The company must be no more than five years old (outside funding isn’t required), or its latest round must have closed within the last two years.

Mistake 1: a Gmail address. The email in your application must be on your company website’s domain, which you also list in the application.

Step 2. Apply. On claude.com/programs/startups, click Apply now, sign in to Claude Console, and fill in the form.

Mistake 2: a vague description. “We’re an AI startup” explains nothing. Say who your product is for, why you’re building it, and what exactly Claude does in it.

Step 3. Activate everything right away. Once approved, open the Claude Startups section in Claude Console and activate Claude Team (up to five seats), the US$1,000 in credits, and the partner offers.

Mistake 3: leaving it for later. Credits expire six months after they’re granted. And they only work through the Claude API in Claude Console.

Bonus. If you’ve raised funding and your venture fund is part of Anthropic’s partner network, you can get up to US$100,000 more in API credits through the fund.

Mindship’s experience and what the Anthropic grant gives us

We applied on October 8 and were approved very quickly. In the application we described the product in a few sentences, focusing on why what we’re building matters and on the specific support from the Anthropic team that would help us.

Our whole team works in Claude every day, so for us this grant is above all about the freedom to experiment. We’ll definitely be able to train and improve our models more, build dynamic plans for our users, and find new ways to show their data and progress. We’re also in the middle of a rebrand — we’re refreshing our mascots — and the partner offers will help give our marketing a boost.