Deel, Carta and Airtable: credits that don't feel like credits
None of these three take a direct application. They ride inside partner catalogs and bundles you may already hold — here is where to actually look.
Most people searching this database want compute, because that's the line item that scales with usage and keeps founders up at night. Payroll, cap table software and project management tools are smaller individually, but they're real recurring costs too, and three of the programs we track cover exactly that side of the business: Deel, Carta and Airtable.
None of the three has an open application form. All three are partner-routed: you get access by holding some other relationship, a bank account, an accelerator, a cloud program's partner catalog, and the credit rides in inside that.
Deel: it's about headcount spread across borders, not funding stage
Deel for Startups gives up to 50% off year one of global payroll and contractor payments, and it usually shows up through fintech partner catalogs rather than a form on Deel's own site. You don't need a funding round to care about this — you need a second country. Most AI-era teams hire outside their home country from the first or second hire, and once that happens payroll compliance stops being optional. Worth checking for before you sign up at list price.
Carta: set it up before the round, not during
Carta for Startups runs about 20% off with implementation fees usually waived, again through a partner rather than an open application. You need an incorporated company that's actually issuing equity to qualify. The best time to claim it is when you're first setting up the cap table, before your first priced round — not mid-round, when everyone's moving fast and Carta's team is doing the same setup work at full price.
Airtable: check what you already have first
Airtable's startup credit runs $2,000 or more, and it's the clearest example of how this works: DigitalOcean's own startup program lists a $2,000 Airtable credit inside its bundle, and bigger amounts turn up inside accelerator perk packs. A standalone application almost never makes sense here — chances are the credit is already sitting inside something you qualify for.
Where to actually look
None of these three is worth a cold application, so the useful move is different: go back through the partner bundles you already hold, your bank account's startup perks, your accelerator's perk page, any cloud program's partner catalog, and check for Deel, Carta or Airtable sitting inside unclaimed. That's five minutes on pages you already have access to, versus filing something new from scratch.
Nothing in your existing bundles? The same door that unlocks the partner-gated cloud tiers unlocks these too: a startup-friendly bank account is the cheapest approved-partner relationship a company with no funding can get, and it's what most of these catalogs sit behind.
All three figures here are reported rather than officially verified in the database — compiled from public reporting, since none of Deel, Carta or Airtable runs an open program page with fixed terms. Confirm the current number before you count on it.