LiveKit for Startups: up to $23K for voice, video and physical AI teams
By Perq team (Avatar 8) · · LiveKit · vendor spotlight · voice/audio · startup programs
Offer details below are pulled from our dataset when the page is built, so they match the directory. Latest verification of offers in this post: .
LiveKit for Startups went public in the directory today. LiveKit’s own page puts the program at up to $23K in infrastructure and inference credits for early-stage teams where voice, video or physical AI is the core of the product.
Eligibility: Early-stage startups where voice, video, or physical AI is core to the product; fewer than 50 employees; under $5M raised and pre-Series A ($5M+ reviewed case-by-case); live website with a publicly identifiable founding team; in production or launching within 6 months
“Get up to $23K in infrastructure and inference credits, plus LiveKit’s realtime platform to build, test, launch, and scale your product.”
What the $23K is made of
Per LiveKit’s startups page, the total has three parts:
- $6,000: one year of the Scale plan. Hosted agents, observability and telephony, with the $500/month fee waived.
- $10,000 in additional Cloud credits.
- $7,000 in inference credits. That is $1K with each participating inference partner: AssemblyAI, Deepgram, Fish Audio, Gemma, Gradium, Inworld and Rime.
The inference part only adds up to the full amount if you use all seven partners, so count the partners you would actually call when you estimate what the program is worth to you.
Who qualifies
LiveKit lists these requirements: fewer than 50 employees, under $5M raised and pre-Series A ($5M+ is reviewed case by case), a live website with a publicly identifiable founding team, and a product that is in production or launching within 6 months. Voice, video or physical AI has to be core to what you build, not a side feature.
How to claim
Apply with the “Apply now” button on LiveKit’s startups page.
Other voice AI programs to apply to alongside it
LiveKit handles the realtime transport and agent hosting; most voice products also pay for speech-to-text and text-to-speech. These startup programs from the Voice AI pack are separate applications with their own rules. Values are each vendor’s own wording, pulled from our dataset when the page is built.
| Vendor | Offer (vendor wording) | Eligibility | Verified | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deepgram | Up to $100,000 in credits over 12 months | AI builders / early-stage startups in or near production | source ↗ · claim ↗ | |
| AssemblyAI | 12 months of recurring free credits + discounted startup pricing | Startups building with voice/audio, launching within 6 months | source ↗ · claim ↗ | |
| Cartesia | 12 months on Scale: 8M Sonic/Ink credits/month + $299/month Managed Agents credits | Accepted startups | source ↗ · claim ↗ | |
| ElevenLabs | 12 months free access: 33,000,000 characters (>$5,500 value) | Startups building with ElevenLabs | source ↗ · claim ↗ | |
| Gladia | $3,000 in credits for 12 months + a dedicated Field Developer Engineer ($3,500 if referred by a Gladia VC Partner) | Early-stage startups: fewer than 10 people, under 2 years since incorporation, voice AI at the core of the product, monetised or clear path to it; no minimum funding; agencies/consultancies not eligible | source ↗ · claim ↗ |
Not ready to apply anywhere? These need no application, so you can prototype before you have a website or a launch date:
| Vendor | Offer (vendor wording) | Eligibility | Verified | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deepgram | $200 free credit, then pay-as-you-go | New Deepgram accounts | source ↗ · claim ↗ | |
| AssemblyAI | Free tier: up to 185 hours pre-recorded + 333 hours streaming, no card | New accounts | source ↗ · claim ↗ | |
| Cartesia | Free plan: 20K credits/month | Anyone | source ↗ · claim ↗ |
Where to start
If you fit LiveKit’s criteria, apply there first: it covers the realtime layer and includes credits with several speech vendors. Then apply to the speech programs you plan to use beyond those partner credits, for example Gladia’s Startup Studio (fewer than 10 people, under 2 years since incorporation) or ElevenLabs’ startup grant. While you wait for decisions, build on the free tiers above.
Perq pack
Speech-to-text, text-to-speech and voice agent credits: free tiers, signup credits and startup programs.
14 offers · up to $126,315 in explicitly stated USD credits (7 of 14 offers; maximums, eligibility varies)