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Database Platform

TiDB (PingCAP)

Listed offer value

$100,000
Free guide

Pre-seed to Series B AI startups on AWS or Alibaba Cloud

Eligibility & conditions

TiDB Cloud is a distributed SQL database from PingCAP with native vector indexing, so embeddings live next to transactional data without running a separate vector database. The TiDB AI Startup Program offers qualified startups up to $100,000 in TiDB Cloud credits, a dedicated AI architecture assessment, and direct access to the engineers behind production deployments at Kimi, Manus, Plaud and Dify. You begin on the free TiDB Starter tier and draw down credits as usage grows. The page states qualified startups "may receive" up to $100,000, so the figure is a ceiling set during qualification, not an automatic grant.
Captured Oct 28, 2026View source

How to apply

5 steps
  1. Open https://www.pingcap.com/tidb-ai-startup-program/ and check yourself against the eligibility list: pre-seed to Series B stage, building AI agents, agentic SaaS, RAG applications, knowledge platforms, coding agents, sandboxes or AI infrastructure, serving the US, Southeast Asia, Japan or Europe, and running on AWS or Alibaba Cloud. The AWS or Alibaba Cloud requirement is a hard filter; GCP and Azure workloads are not listed.
  2. Create a free TiDB Cloud account at https://tidbcloud.com/free-trial/ before applying. The program is structured as starting on the TiDB Starter free tier and drawing credits as you scale, so an existing workspace makes the application concrete.
  3. Click Apply Now on the program page. It scrolls to the application form in the 'Apply in Just Two Minutes' section at the bottom of the same page. Do not click Request Access; that button leads to a Google Form for the separate TiDB Hardware Agent Services track, which is marked INVITATION ONLY and is not this offer.
  4. Fill in the form describing what you are building, your current stage, and the scaling problems you expect, such as agent state, long-term memory, vector search, real-time analytics, multi-tenant isolation or multi-region deployment. Submitting returns a confirmation that PingCAP will email you next steps.
  5. Wait for PingCAP to qualify you and confirm your actual credit allocation with their team before budgeting against it. The $100,000 is the stated maximum across the program, not a per-startup default.
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https://tidbcloud.com/free-trial/https://www.pingcap.com/tidb-ai-startup-program/

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