Send personalized emails, push notifications, and SMS messages to lower churn and drive revenue.
The goal of Customer.io’s startup program is to give businesses access to a best-in-class messaging tool that harnesses real-time behavioral data and advanced segmentation for those who normally wouldn’t have the opportunity due to funding and budgetary restrictions.
We’re passionate about supporting small startups because not too long ago, we were one.
The mission of our startup team is to help small businesses grow using Customer.io as an integral part of their business and messaging strategy.
Use Customer.io to improve your customer messaging experience, onboarding series, engagement, and so much more…
David Chouinard Cofounder of candor.co
To be eligible for Customer.io’s startup program, all businesses must meet the following qualifications*:
Your business has raised less than $2 million in total funding.
Contact lists cannot be purchased. Lists must be acquired through traditional business methods.
Your business must be an active member of at least one of our startup partner’s organizations.
Your business is currently not and has never been a customer of Customer.io.
* Falsely misrepresenting your eligibility for the Customer.io startup program set out above may constitute a material breach of the Terms of Service and could result in the termination of your subscription agreement and/or the removal of any discount applied to your purchase. Furthermore, you may be required to repay Customer.io for any discounts received as a result of falsely misrepresenting your eligibility.
Startup Basic includes everything you need to start sending messages to your customers.
Send unlimited emails
Send SMS, push notifications, webhooks
Up to 12,000 users*
Customer Community Support
$1,800 value
Startup +Plus includes all basic features plus additional technical and onboarding support.
Up to 100,000 users*
Limited Technical Support
1-hour onboarding and planning call
$12,000 value
Yes. We keep a card on file for all of our startup program companies. We do this for overages and will also begin charging this card at our normal rate after your initial 12-month deal expires.
Yes. After you apply and are accepted into the startup program, you can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time to suit your business needs. However, changing plans does not extend your plan length.
Check out the requirements above on this page and apply if you meet them. Our team will review your application and respond quickly to your inquiry. We reserve the right to not accept any company for any reason.
That depends. If you think your team will need support and/or you have a lot of users (over 20k) then we’d recommend the Customer.io Startup +Plus plan. If you have less than 12k users and think your team can get up and running without our help, we’d recommend our free basic plan.
That’s okay! You can still use our product! Let us know you’re still interested and our sales team will help get you set up on a plan that makes sense for you.
Applications are reviewed weekly. All applicants will be contacted upon approval only.
If you’re on our Basic Startup Plan, then your support is limited, although community support is available.
If you’re on our Startup +Plus plan you have access to the same level of support as our other customers. Please email win@customer.io with as much detail as possible about your issue.
Overages are calculated based on the number of customer profiles you have in your Customer.io account. These overages are only charged when the number of profiles you have in your account exceeds your plans allotted amount (12K for Basic, 100K for Plus). If overages occur, we will charge the card we have on file.
The overage fee for Basic is: 12,001-32,000 = $10 per 2,000 and 32,001+ = $25 per 5,000; $0.004 per profile on Startup Plus.
Please email startups@customer.io. We can discuss which paid option gets you the support you need.
Please send all questions to startups@customer.io.
We offer a special startup program for bootstrapped companies and are currently accepting a limited amount of companies to this program. You can learn more and apply here.