DigitalOcean Announces New Benefits for Hatch Startup Program

Rhea-AI Summary

DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN) announced enhanced benefits for its Hatch startup program in 2025, focusing on supporting AI and ML projects. The program offers qualified startups up to $100,000 in Compute Credits, up to 3 months of free GPU usage, and complimentary Premium Support.

Participants will gain access to DigitalOcean's marketplace of over 600,000 customers, along with co-marketing support and partner opportunities at global events. The Hatch program, established in 2016, has successfully launched thousands of startups, including OneText, aiven, Hugging Face, and Vuukle.

Positive

• Introduction of significant GPU resources for AI/ML startups
• Offering up to $100,000 in compute credits to qualified participants
• Providing 3 months of free GPU usage to qualified startups
• Access to marketplace with 600,000+ potential customers

Negative

• None.

Insights

Market Research Analyst

DigitalOcean's enhanced Hatch program represents a calculated strategic initiative in the highly competitive cloud infrastructure market. The timing is particularly notable, coinciding with the surge in AI startup activity and increasing demand for GPU resources. The program's new structure, offering up to $100,000 in compute credits and 3 months of free GPU usage, serves multiple strategic objectives:

From a market positioning perspective, this move helps DigitalOcean differentiate itself from larger competitors by focusing on its core strength - simplicity and support for growing tech companies. The addition of GPU resources is particularly strategic given that:

• AI/ML startups typically become heavy resource consumers as they scale
• Early-stage companies often struggle with the high costs of GPU computing
• Startups successful in AI/ML tend to grow rapidly and require increasing cloud resources

The program's economics present an interesting balance of risk and opportunity. While the upfront cost of providing substantial credits and GPU access is significant, the potential lifetime value of successful AI startups could far exceed the initial investment. Additionally, the premium support offering helps ensure higher customer retention rates by providing startups with expertise during critical growth phases.

The marketplace access component, connecting startups with DigitalOcean's 600,000+ customer base, creates a potential network effect that could benefit both the startups and DigitalOcean's ecosystem. This approach of building a comprehensive support system around pure infrastructure services helps create stronger customer relationships and higher switching costs.

Hatch accelerator gives startups priority access to GPU power, support, and other services

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DOCN), the simplest scalable cloud for growing tech companies, today announced significant new benefits for select startups participating in Hatch, the company’s program that provides startups with the resources and support they need to make their vision a reality.

“DigitalOcean’s Hatch program has a successful track record of helping startup businesses scale their operations with the support and cloud infrastructure they need to power their early-stage growth, and we’re excited to expand its benefits to better assist teams working on next-generation AI and ML projects,” said Paddy Srinivasan, CEO at DigitalOcean. “The next cohort in our program will benefit from generous credits for our GPU-powered Droplets and other AI/ML resources, and have access to a large community of partners and customers to help take their venture to the next level of growth.”

Brand new in 2025, the Hatch program offers an exclusive benefits package to new members, including:

• Up to $100,000 in Compute Credits: Breathe a little easier with significant compute credits for qualified Hatch program participants that will help you experiment, develop, and scale for less.
• Up to 3 months of Free GPU Usage: Qualified startups can hit the ground running with zero GPU costs for a limited period of time. Terms apply.
• Complimentary Premium Support: Get expert guidance when you need it most, at no additional cost.

In addition, participants will have unlimited access to DigitalOcean’s marketplace of more than 600,000 customers, including co-marketing support and partner opportunities at DigitalOcean’s events around the world.

“We quickly realized that Hatch is much more than just a program to get computing credits, and that there is all kinds of other support in the ecosystem that could be really helpful to us,” said Nemo Yang, CEOat Hatch participant Cortex AI. “As we continue to work with our customers, we encounter challenging problems that we rely on DigitalOcean’s Hatch program to help us solve in the future.”

First established in 2016, DigitalOcean Hatch has helped to launch thousands of startups, including notable alumni like OneText, aiven, Hugging Face, and Vuukle.

To learn more about Hatch and to apply for your team to be part of the program, visit http://do.co/AIStartups.

About DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is the simplest scalable cloud platform that democratizes cloud and AI for growing tech companies around the world. Our mission is to simplify cloud computing and AI to allow builders to spend more time creating software that changes the world. More than 600,000 customers trust DigitalOcean to deliver the cloud, AI, and ML infrastructure they need to build and scale their organizations. To learn more about DigitalOcean, visit www.digitalocean.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250122496359/en/

DigitalOcean Media

Dan Jensen

press@digitalocean.com



Investors

Melanie Strate

investors@digitalocean.com

Source: DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc.

FAQ

What are the new benefits offered in DigitalOcean's (DOCN) Hatch program for 2025?

The 2025 Hatch program offers up to $100,000 in Compute Credits, up to 3 months of free GPU usage for qualified startups, and complimentary Premium Support. It also includes access to DigitalOcean's marketplace of 600,000+ customers and co-marketing opportunities.

How many customers can Hatch program participants access through DigitalOcean (DOCN)?

Hatch program participants can access DigitalOcean's marketplace of more than 600,000 customers.

Which notable startups have graduated from DigitalOcean's (DOCN) Hatch program?

Notable alumni of the Hatch program include OneText, aiven, Hugging Face, and Vuukle.

When was DigitalOcean's (DOCN) Hatch program first established?

The DigitalOcean Hatch program was first established in 2016.