Anthropic paused the free year of Claude Team and $1,000 in API credits it began offering on Tuesday through a broadened Claude Startups program, after two days of applications ran 21 times higher than the program’s previous five months combined. Head of startup marketing Sarah Wolf posted on X that Anthropic hadn’t set its acceptance criteria tightly enough and “let way too many people in,” since any company founded in the past five years or funded in the past two qualified. Approved applicants who haven’t claimed the perks yet will now have to re-verify and could be turned down, which drew complaints on X and Reddit that Anthropic went back on its offer. The program’s other discounts and credits, worth up to $45,000, are still available to accepted members.
