Zoom Launches $150K AI Grant Programme

Published On: 12th Nov 2026 11:22 - Modified: 12th Nov 2026

Zoom has launched AI Launchpad, a new programme offering eligible startups up to $150,000 in credits to develop AI-powered applications using its speech, language and voice AI services.

The programme is designed to help emerging businesses build and scale AI applications without relying on multiple third-party technology providers. Funding is provided through Zoom AI Services credits, with no equity stake required.

X.D. Huang, Chief Technology Officer at Zoom commented:

“AI startups should spend time solving real problems, not stitching together infrastructure.

“AI Launchpad gives founders the same industry-leading AI technology that powers our own products, plus resources to move faster and focus their engineering talent where it matters most.”

AI Launchpad provides access to Zoom AI Services, which brings together speech recognition, summarisation, translation, voice AI and decision-making capabilities through standalone APIs.

Startups can use these services to develop applications across several areas, including:

Voice AI and customer service agents: Building conversational agents that understand spoken requests, generate responses and support customer interactions.
Conversation intelligence: Transcribing and summarising calls and meetings to identify useful information and support follow-up activities.
Multilingual communication: Using speech and translation capabilities to support conversations across different languages.
AI-powered workflows: Analysing information, classifying requests and determining appropriate next steps through Zoom’s Decisions API.

By combining these capabilities within one platform, Zoom aims to reduce the technical complexity and costs associated with integrating services from multiple providers.

The programme offers three tiers of support, depending on a startup’s development stage, technical requirements and eligibility.

Successful applicants can receive up to $150,000 in Zoom AI Services credits, available for a period of up to 12 months.

Participating businesses may also benefit from technical guidance from Zoom’s engineering teams, opportunities to showcase their products through its developer channels and introductions to potential enterprise customers.

AI Launchpad is open to startups developing software products centred on speech, language or conversational AI.

Applications will be assessed based on several factors, including the proposed product, team, technical approach, existing traction and plans to use Zoom AI Services.

Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis, with a limited number of startups accepted into the programme.

Further information and application details are available through the Zoom AI Launchpad website.