Cruq runs production AI agents for enterprises. That takes real infrastructure: databases, compute and hosting for agents that run around the clock. The Google for Startups Cloud Program helps carry that cost while the company grows. Here is what the program provides and how we use it.
What the program provides
The Cloud Program is built for startups with genuine infrastructure needs. Its published benefits include:
- Cloud and Firebase costs covered up to $200,000 over the first two years, and up to $350,000 for AI-first startups.
- Technical support from Google Cloud.
- Mentorship from teams across Google Cloud, Google Labs and DeepMind.
- Discounts on Google Workspace and related products.
Where the credits go at Cruq
Cruq is a platform, so most of the cost is infrastructure that runs whether or not a given customer is active.
- Compute for running and tracing agents.
- Databases that hold each workspace's data, isolated per tenant.
- Hosting for the agent runtime that answers API calls in production.
Credits let us give customers proper isolation and headroom without passing early infrastructure cost on to them.
It fits a bring-your-own-keys model
Cruq's model is that customers use their own provider keys and their own data. Cloud credits support the platform layer, the part that is ours to run, while inference still routes through each customer's own keys. One funds the plumbing, the other keeps the customer in control of their models and data.
The point
Infrastructure is the quiet cost of running production AI. This program covers enough of it, early on, that we can spend the runway on the product and the customers instead.
