OVHcloud offers up to €100,000 in credits (up to $120,000 via OVHcloud US).
No equity, no fees. No referral needed; apply directly.
Stage fit: Pre-seed to Series A and beyond. Difficulty: moderate.
OVHcloud at a glance
- Max value
- Up to €100,000 (up to $120,000 via OVHcloud US)
- Stage fit
- Pre-seed to Series A and beyond
- Takes equity
- No
- Who files it
- You (no code needed)
- Geography
- Worldwide, run through eight regional teams (Africa & Middle East; Americas excl.
- Referral needed
- No
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Review time
- Decision within 7 days of submission
- Credits expire
- Vouchers are valid for 12 months from the contract signature date and any unused balance is removed automatically at the end; participation is capped at 12 months per level (Start and Scale).
What OVHcloud actually gives you
- Start€10,000 in vouchers (OVHcloud US: up to $12,000), 12 months, 6 hours of 1-on-1 engineer time, Standard supportSelected pre-seed and seed startups with at least a proof of concept or MVP that can run on OVHcloud Public Cloud or Hosted Private Cloud (US program: US public cloud products only)
- ScaleUp to €100,000 in vouchers (OVHcloud US: up to $120,000), 12 months, up to 20 hours of 1-on-1 engineer time, Business support, personalised quotes via Sales; the exact amount is set by OVHcloud's assessment of your expected 12-month infrastructure spendSelected startups and scaleups that have raised Series A or later
- Enabler-referred (accelerator, incubator, VC partner)Same ceilings as above: up to €100,000 and up to 20 hours; an event code is not mandatory and gives no extra advantage, but is required if your support structure is managed by an OVHcloud Premium partnerStartups backed by an accelerator, incubator or VC in OVHcloud's partner network
Who qualifies
You likely qualify if
- You run an innovative technical project with growth potential that is linked to a professional startup or business activity.
- You already have at least a proof of concept (POC) or minimum viable product (MVP) that can be deployed on OVHcloud Public Cloud or Hosted Private Cloud (US program: US public cloud products).
- You need cloud infrastructure soon: vouchers must be used within the 12-month window or they are lost.
- Start level: you are at pre-seed or seed stage. Scale level: you have raised Series A or later. OVHcloud makes the final tier decision.
- Pre-revenue and revenue-generating companies can both apply. Having raised at least one funding round is not required but is listed by OVHcloud as a factor that improves your chances.
- Being an existing OVHcloud customer is fine; vouchers also pay for eligible services you already run on the account.
- You may already be in a competitor's startup program (AWS Activate, Google, Microsoft, etc.); OVHcloud imposes no exclusivity.
- You apply on the OVHcloud country website that matches your business address. Companies using OVHcloud US infrastructure apply through the separate US program (us.ovhcloud.com/startup-program) and need a US OVHcloud account; only one program membership is allowed, generally in the country where the company is incorporated or plans to operate.
You won't qualify if
- Non-business projects such as NGOs and associations.
- Companies that have already joined or taken part in any OVHcloud Startup Program (including the former Digital Launch Pad); one program per company.
- Applications with false, incomplete or vague information.
- Contentious activities: traffic exchanges (Hitleap, Jingling), black-hat SEO, cryptocurrency mining, video game bots and similar.
- Applications that look like a better fit for the OVHcloud Partner Program may be declined: resellers, integrators, white-label providers, digital-services or consulting firms, and companies competing with OVHcloud. The US FAQ also lists agencies and e-commerce sites as unsupported.
- Spending exclusions (docs table, last updated 27 Jan 2026): dedicated servers, VPS, Web Cloud (domains, web hosting, email, collaboration), telecom products, Enterprise support, and every Public Cloud GPU instance except RTX5000, V100 and V100S cannot be paid with vouchers. The FAQ also says Bare Metal Cloud products are generally not paid by vouchers, although the docs table lists Baremetal Cloud under eligible Public Cloud compute, so confirm with your regional Startup Program Manager before relying on it.
Geography. Worldwide, run through eight regional teams (Africa & Middle East; Americas excl. Brazil & USA; APAC; Central & Eastern Europe; DACH; France & Benelux; Southern Europe & Brazil; UK, Ireland & Northern Europe). Credit amounts are stated in euros on the non-US country sites checked (including Ireland, UK and Singapore). Companies using US infrastructure go through the separate OVHcloud US program with USD amounts (up to $12,000 for Start and up to $120,000 for Scale).
How to apply to OVHcloud Startup Program
- 01Open startup.ovhcloud.com on the country site matching your business address and click Apply (companies using US infrastructure: use the form at us.ovhcloud.com/startup-program instead).
- 02Sign in with an existing OVHcloud customer account or create one; the account you pick is permanently linked to the program and cannot be switched later. Do not use a personal account.
- 03Answer the questions about your company and submit; enter an event code only if an OVHcloud Premium partner (accelerator/incubator/VC) supports you.
- 04Wait for the selection committee's decision, sent by email within 7 days.
- 05If accepted, sign the Startup Program contract from the acceptance email or in the Control Panel (your name > My services > Contracts); a regional Startup Program Manager will contact you to onboard you.
- 06Vouchers appear within 48 hours (docs say 48 business hours) of signing under Payment method > My Startup Program vouchers (US program: issued near instantly); eligible invoices are then paid automatically. If an invoice exceeds the remaining voucher balance it is not paid automatically, but you can ask your regional manager for a manual part-payment. Request Public Cloud quota increases via a support ticket mentioning the Startup Program, not the 'Increase my quota' button.
Review time: Decision within 7 days of submission; vouchers issued within 48 hours (docs say 48 business hours) after the contract is signed on the global program, near instantly on the US program.. Apply at startup.ovhcloud.com/en-ie/login.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
No change to the headline amounts (€10,000 Start, up to €100,000 Scale) was found in 2025 or 2026. The official docs page on voucher-eligible products currently shows 'Last updated January 27, 2026'; it lists AI Notebooks, AI Training, AI Deploy, AI Endpoints, Quantum Notebooks and the Data Platform as eligible and allows only RTX5000, V100 and V100S GPU instances. 11 Jun 2025: the program marked its 10th anniversary at VivaTech (about 5,000 startups supported from 14,000 applications since 2015; the 10-week Fast Forward accelerator launched in 2024). A Healthcare Accelerator track was promoted on the program homepage with entries closing 26 July 2026, which has now passed.
OVHcloud credits and your AWS bill
OVHcloud is a competing (European, data-sovereignty-focused) cloud, so these vouchers cannot be spent on AWS or Amazon Bedrock. The program has no exclusivity clause, so a founder can hold AWS Activate credits and OVHcloud vouchers at the same time, for example keeping the core stack on AWS while running AI Notebooks, AI Training, AI Endpoints or EU-resident workloads on OVHcloud and paying for them from vouchers (within the 12-month window and the voucher cap).
OVHcloud startup credits, answered
How much does OVHcloud give startups?
OVHcloud offers up to €100,000 in credits (up to $120,000 via OVHcloud US). There are 3 tiers: Start: €10,000 in vouchers (OVHcloud US: up to $12,000), 12 months, 6 hours of 1-on-1 engineer time, Standard support; Scale: Up to €100,000 in vouchers (OVHcloud US: up to $120,000), 12 months, up to 20 hours of 1-on-1 engineer time, Business support, personalised quotes via Sales; Enabler-referred (accelerator, incubator, VC partner): Same ceilings as above: up to €100,000 and up to 20 hours.
Does OVHcloud take equity?
No. OVHcloud Startup Program is a credits program, not an investment; you keep 100% of your company. No referral needed; apply directly.
Who qualifies for OVHcloud Startup Program?
Stage fit: Pre-seed to Series A and beyond (Start: pre-seed/seed; Scale: Series A+). You usually qualify if: you run an innovative technical project with growth potential that is linked to a professional startup or business activity.; you already have at least a proof of concept (POC) or minimum viable product (MVP) that can be deployed on OVHcloud Public Cloud or Hosted Private Cloud (US program: US public cloud products).; you need cloud infrastructure soon: vouchers must be used within the 12-month window or they are lost. You will not qualify if: non-business projects such as NGOs and associations.; companies that have already joined or taken part in any OVHcloud Startup Program (including the former Digital Launch Pad); one program per company.
How long does OVHcloud take to approve credits?
Decision within 7 days of submission; vouchers issued within 48 hours (docs say 48 business hours) after the contract is signed on the global program, near instantly on the US program. Difficulty: moderate, a real application and usually some back and forth.
When do OVHcloud credits expire?
Vouchers are valid for 12 months from the contract signature date and any unused balance is removed automatically at the end; participation is capped at 12 months per level (Start and Scale). A valid payment method must be on the account for non-covered services and for billing after expiry.
Can I combine OVHcloud credits with AWS credits?
OVHcloud is a competing (European, data-sovereignty-focused) cloud, so these vouchers cannot be spent on AWS or Amazon Bedrock. The program has no exclusivity clause, so a founder can hold AWS Activate credits and OVHcloud vouchers at the same time, for example keeping the core stack on AWS while running AI Notebooks, AI Training, AI Endpoints or EU-resident workloads on OVHcloud and paying for them from vouchers (within the 12-month window and the voucher cap). On AWS, CloudRoute matches you for free with a vetted partner who can file MAP, POC or IW funding when the workload qualifies and AWS approves it. The OVHcloud application you submit yourself.
