AI Grant Accelerator
By AI Grant
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Quick Answer
US$250,000 on an uncapped SAFE plus ~$640k in credits for seed-stage AI startups — Batch 4 applications are closed.
Results & next round
Applications for this round are closed. The organiser has not published a selection list that we can verify yet.
Selections for this programme are announced by AI Grant. Official links are listed under Sources below.
We update this page when results are published, and when the next round opens.
About this funding program
AI Grant invests US$250,000 in seed-stage AI startups on a no-cap, no-discount MFN SAFE, and stacks on roughly US$640,000 in cloud and tool credits. It is run by Hersh Desai and Lenny Bogdonoff, and funded with $10M from Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross.
Applications for Batch 4 are closed and no Batch 5 date has been announced. This page is here for the record — the terms, the bar and the ~92 companies they have backed — so you know what to prepare if a batch reopens.
The catch for Indian founders
They say plainly: "we only invest in Delaware corporations."
That is a condition of taking the money, not of applying. Apply with whatever you have — an Indian Pvt Ltd, an LLP, or no company at all. If you are accepted, you then need a Delaware C-corp, and they point out you can create one from almost anywhere in the world in a few days using Stripe Atlas or similar.
So an existing Indian company is no barrier to applying, but it does mean a flip or a fresh US incorporation before the money lands, with the tax and FEMA consequences that carries. Worth talking to a CA once you are in the process — not before you apply.
Otherwise it is wide open: "Can anyone apply? Yes — no credentials required." Single founders can apply. Founders who have already raised can apply. They will fund multiple companies doing the same thing, on the view that the AI product market is big enough for both Uber and Lyft.
What they fund
Anything that uses AI models in a useful or engaging way, at pre-seed or seed. In their words they want "technical & pragmatic founders who want to build great products" — people who get a thrill from making something others love to use, and who understand that a new product is "1% idea and 99% iteration".
Demos matter. On selection they say they want smart, energetic people with actionable, clearly useful ideas, and that demos are a big plus — "not just because they're fun to look at, but because they hint at the type of person that cares about the end-user experience." If you apply with one thing, apply with a working demo.
What you get
| Investment | US$250,000 on a no-cap, no-discount MFN SAFE |
| Azure | $350,000 in credits, Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, GTM support |
| Other credits | ~$290,000 more across 20+ tools |
| Summit | A weekend with peers and advisors in San Francisco |
| Demo Day | Pitch to an invite-only group of investors in San Francisco |
The credit stack, in their own list: PostHog $55k, Replicate $50k, Anthropic $30k, Modal $25k, OpenAI $15k, Vercel $12k, ElevenLabs $11k, Vapi $10k, Hugging Face $10k, AssemblyAI $10k, Perplexity $10k, Fireworks AI $10k, Together AI $7.5k, Zilliz $5k, Stripe $2.5k, Clerk $2.5k, Pilot $2.5k, Linear $1k, Render $1k, plus 10 free seats each from Weights & Biases and Julius AI, 25% off Cohere models and 20% off Deel fees.
Advisors and speakers have included David Holz (Midjourney), Andrej Karpathy (OpenAI founding member), Patrick Collison (Stripe), Tobi Lütke (Shopify), Alexandr Wang (Scale), Noam Shazeer (Character), Mike Krieger (Instagram), Guillermo Rauch (Vercel), Dylan Field (Figma) and Aravind Srinivas (Perplexity).
Bigger cheques exist separately. Nat and Daniel invest on their own account, generally leading rounds between $1M and $100M, and companies taking those also get access to the Andromeda Cluster.
Is it a grant?
No — it is an investment, and they address the name head-on. AI Grant started in 2017 handing out genuine research grants, awarding 36 individuals who went on to found Cohere, Helia and Cresta. They relaunched it around products rather than papers, on the view that AI research is now abundant while product innovation is just beginning. The name stuck; the instrument is a SAFE.
Who they have backed
Around 92 companies across four batches, including Perplexity, Cursor, Replicate, Pika, Granola, Browserbase, MatX, Lindy and Chroma.
Batch 4 — Goodfire (interpretability tools), Silurian (weather forecasting foundation models), Granola (AI notepad for meetings), Pulse AI (document extraction), InspectMind AI (construction plan checking), Hamming (testing for voice agents), Agency (B2B customer success agents), Artificial Analysis (independent model benchmarks), Pursuit (public sector sales), Graylark (geospatial intelligence), Haize Labs (model hazing), Sync (lipsync), Rowan (molecular simulation), Vapi (voice agent API), Juicebox (recruiting), Supertrace AI (network engineers), Inception Labs (diffusion LLMs).
Batch 3 — Antimetal, Matic Robots, Omnivore, Momentic, Reworkd AI, Spark AI, K-Scale Labs, Matrices, Browserbase, Didero, Consensus, Method Security, Yuma AI, Abel, Virtual Staging AI, Symphonic Labs, DayDream Dental, Creatify AI, Womp Labs.
Batch 2 — Pika, ggml, MatX, Lindy, Freed, Mathpix, Abstract AI, Julius, Hume AI, Cofactory, Induced, Zeta Labs, Common Sense Machines, Guru AI, Curio, Echo Labs, Reality Defender, Andiron AI, Lightpage, Portola, Espresso AI, Jenni, AutogenAI, Listen Labs, Tutor Intelligence, RunPod, Akool, Coframe, OpusClip, Kino AI.
Batch 1 — Perplexity, Cursor, Replicate, Animato, Lexica.art, Minion.ai, Recraft, Flair, ValueBase, WOMBO, Chroma, Poly Corp, Sieve, Sameday, Play.ht, Ghostwrite, BuildShip, Birch, Vizcom, Circle Labs, Samaya AI, Secret Weapons, Pixelcut, AniML, Dust, Forefront.
The spread is worth reading as a signal: developer tools and infrastructure dominate, with consumer AI, vertical SaaS and a handful of robotics and hardware bets alongside.
If a batch reopens
Watch aigrant.com. There is no mailing list on the page and no announced Batch 5 date. Questions go to support@aigrant.org. Note the separate open-source grant programme at aigrant.org, which is a different thing from this accelerator.
Eligibility
See if you're eligible
Full eligibility criteria — entity type, stage, sector, founder profile and registration requirements — plus your fit for this program. Sign up to view.
Funding providers
AI Grant is an accelerator for seed-stage AI startups, run by Hersh Desai and Lenny Bogdonoff. Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross have put $10M into the programme; the investments themselves are made by AI Grant LLC. It began in 2017 as a research grant programme that funded 36…
Learn moreBenefits & Funding
What You Get
US$250,000 via a no-cap, no-discount MFN SAFE, plus roughly US$640,000 in credits — $350,000 from Azure (with Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub membership and go-to-market support), then PostHog $55k, Replicate $50k, Anthropic $30k, Modal $25k, OpenAI $15k, Vercel $12k, ElevenLabs $11k, and $10k each from Vapi, Hugging Face, AssemblyAI, Perplexity and Fireworks AI, among others.
You also get a weekend with peers and advisors at the AI Grant Summit in San Francisco, and a chance to present at Demo Day to an invite-only group of investors.
Separately, Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross invest on their own account — generally leading rounds of $1M to $100M — and companies taking those also get access to the Andromeda Cluster.
- Disbursement
- Lump Sum
- Application fee
- Free
Timelines & Process
Application Fee
Free
Selection Process
AI Grant runs in batches rather than rolling, and Batch 4 is closed.
What they screen for, in their own words: smart and energetic people with actionable ideas that are clearly useful. Demos are a big plus — their stated reason is that a demo hints at the kind of founder who cares about end-user experience, "which is ultimately all that matters".
What is not screened out: no credentials are required, solo founders are welcome, founders who have already raised are welcome, and they will deliberately fund multiple companies working on the same thing because they think the AI product market is large enough to support direct competitors.
The one hard constraint is structural rather than judgemental: they invest only in Delaware corporations. You do not need the entity to apply, but you need it to take the money.
Selected founders receive the SAFE, attend the Summit in San Francisco, and present at Demo Day in front of an invite-only group of investors.
Application Process
- 1
Batch opens
Provider - 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
How to apply
Four steps from draft to disbursement — one action each.
- 1
Draft your application
Answer the form inside the grant tracker — AI drafts each response using your past answers, so you're not starting from a blank page.
- 2
Line up your documents
Keep every document from the checklist ready in one folder. Missing docs are the #1 reason applications get bounced.
- 3
Submit on the official portal
Use the official application link and verify all details before final submission.
- 4
Follow up
Reach out 5–7 days after submitting to confirm receipt and ask about the review timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is AI Grant open right now?
No. Applications for Batch 4 are closed and no date has been announced for a Batch 5. The programme has run four batches so far.
Is it actually a grant?
No, it is an investment. AI Grant began in 2017 as a genuine research grant programme that funded 36 individuals — alumni went on to found Cohere, Helia and Cresta — and relaunched around AI products rather than papers. The name stayed; the instrument is a SAFE.
How much do they invest and on what terms?
US$250,000 on a no cap, no discount MFN SAFE, with the template published on their site. Because it is uncapped with no discount, there is no stated equity percentage.
Can I apply from India?
Yes — they say anyone can apply, with no credentials required, and your current entity is not a barrier. The Delaware requirement applies to receiving the investment, not to applying: they only invest in Delaware corporations, so an accepted company needs a Delaware C-corp. They note you can create one from almost anywhere in a few days via Stripe Atlas or similar. Plan the flip or fresh US incorporation once you are in the process, with a CA.
Do I need a company to apply?
No. You can apply with no company, or with whatever entity you already have — an Indian Pvt Ltd, an LLP, anything. You only need a Delaware corporation if you are accepted, because that is the only entity they invest in.
Can I apply as a solo founder?
Yes.
Can I apply if I have already raised money?
Yes.
What kind of company qualifies?
Anything that uses AI models in a useful or engaging way, focused on pre-seed and seed stage. They are looking for technical and pragmatic founders who want to build great products, and say explicitly that building a new product is 1% idea and 99% iteration.
How do they choose?
They look for smart, energetic people with actionable ideas that are clearly useful. Demos are a big plus — in their words, because a demo hints at a person who cares about the end-user experience, which is what ultimately matters.
Will they fund two companies doing the same thing?
Yes. They plan to fund many companies and expect overlap, on the view that the AI product market is large enough to support both Lyft and Uber, or Bing and Google.
What credits come with it?
About US$640,000 worth: $350,000 Azure, $55k PostHog, $50k Replicate, $30k Anthropic, $25k Modal, $15k OpenAI, $12k Vercel, $11k ElevenLabs, $10k each from Vapi, Hugging Face, AssemblyAI, Perplexity and Fireworks AI, $7.5k Together AI, $5k Zilliz, $2.5k each from Stripe, Clerk and Pilot, $1k each from Linear and Render, 10 free seats each from Weights & Biases and Julius AI, 25% off Cohere models and 20% off Deel fees.
Who runs it and who funds it?
It is run by Hersh Desai and Lenny Bogdonoff. Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross have invested $10M in AI Grant; the company investments are made by AI Grant LLC.
Are bigger cheques available?
Separately, yes. Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross invest on their own account, generally leading rounds between $1M and $100M, and companies receiving those also get access to the Andromeda Cluster.
Who has AI Grant backed?
Around 92 companies over four batches, including Perplexity, Cursor, Replicate, Pika, Granola, Browserbase, MatX, Lindy, Chroma, Vapi and Consensus.
Is this the same as the open-source grant programme?
No. aigrant.org runs a separate open source grant programme. This accelerator is aigrant.com.
How do I contact them?
support@aigrant.org for questions, and sponsorship@aigrant.org if you want to contribute funding, hardware, GPU time, datasets or mentorship.
Sources
Data on this page is compiled from official program and provider references.
