Who is eligible for the AssemblyAI Startup Program?

Early-stage startups — bootstrapped through Series A — that are building products with voice or audio and launching within the next six months.

What do accepted startups get?

12 months of recurring free credits and discounted startup pricing, access to all of AssemblyAI's latest features, exclusive co-marketing opportunities, and a global community of Voice AI builders. Discounted pricing does not apply to LLM Gateway.

How long does the application process take?

The application takes minutes and applications are reviewed within one week. Portfolio companies of partner VCs and accelerators, including Accel and Y Combinator, are fast-tracked and should receive decisions in 48 hours.

Which products do the credits cover?

Credits work on AssemblyAI's core voice AI infrastructure, including the Speech-to-text API, Streaming speech-to-text API, and Dictation API. They land in your console within 48 hours of approval.

AssemblyAI startup program

Q: What happens when my credits run out?

Startup discounts continue after your credits run out. Standard pricing phases in with no migration and no cliff, so graduating from the program is seamless.

Designed for early-stage startups to innovate and build powerful products from voice data.

Early stage, pre-seed to Series A

Bootstrapped teams welcome too
Building with voice or audio

Any product with speech at its core
Launching within 6 months

In production or shipping soon
Credits that work on core voice AI infrastructure

12 months of recurring free credits

Trusted by the best startups

Start on infrastructure you won't outgrow

Accuracy 94%

Most word accurate model on the market

Scale 840M+

API calls processed every month

Infrastructure 40TB+

Data processed every single day

Speed <1hr

Average time to first API call

Startup program

More than free credits

Free credits get you building — the program is designed to get you to production, with startup pricing that scales, hands-on guidance from our engineers, and a fast path from application to launch.

Credits that work on core voice AI infrastructure

A fixed credit amount that works across AssemblyAI's voice AI infrastructure platform including Speech-to-text API, Streaming speech-to-text API, Dictation API, and more.

Startup pricing that scales

Startup discounts continue after your credits run out. Standard pricing phases in with no migration and no cliff, so graduating from the program is seamless.

Hands-on product guidance

Dedicated Forward Deployed Engineers from the AssemblyAI team work with you directly, matching the right models and products to your use case from first prototype to production.

Apply in minutes

A short application. Tell us what you are building, your stage, and who backs you. No decks required.

Get a fast decision

Applications are reviewed within one week. Portfolio companies of partner VCs, including Accel and Y Combinator are fast-tracked and should receive decisions in 48 hours.

Build with our team

Credits land in your console within 48 hours of approval and work on core voice AI infrastructure. Your dedicated Forward Deployed Engineer will reach out in week one.

Join the startups building what's next in Voice AI

If you have an hour of content, the difference between 99% accuracy and 97% accuracy, it's a lot of time for that person to review. So you could cut down their workflow from taking half an hour, to 20 minutes, to 15 minutes — it's huge, right?

Joshua Grossberg

CTO, Kapwing

Investments in STT improvements always pay for themselves, since it is such a critical building block of the voice pipeline.

Lindsay Liu

Co-Founder & CEO, Super

AssemblyAI's managed API endpoint and diarization won me over — something Whisper couldn't provide.

Josh Mohrer

Founder, Wave.co

We needed a provider that could scale with us — offering unlimited concurrent streams, fair pricing, and responsive support.

Mark Barbir

CEO, Earmark

Our free to paid conversion rate doubled after implementing AssemblyAI.

Colin Treseler

Founder & CEO, Supernormal

Common questions

: Early-stage startups — bootstrapped through Series A — that are building products with voice or audio and launching within the next six months.
: 12 months of recurring free credits and discounted startup pricing, access to all of AssemblyAI's latest features, exclusive co-marketing opportunities, and a global community of Voice AI builders. Discounted pricing does not apply to LLM Gateway.
: The application takes minutes and applications are reviewed within one week. Portfolio companies of partner VCs and accelerators, including Accel and Y Combinator, are fast-tracked and should receive decisions in 48 hours.
: Credits work on AssemblyAI's core voice AI infrastructure, including the Speech-to-text API, Streaming speech-to-text API, and Dictation API. They land in your console within 48 hours of approval.
: Startup discounts continue after your credits run out. Standard pricing phases in with no migration and no cliff, so graduating from the program is seamless.